RIP (old) Idolator
A few days ago Maura, one of the sharpest writers of the Internet age, delivered her farewell message at Idolator, which I had been visiting regularly since it began a few years back. She was the sole writer to have made it since the start, starting as the junior editor under Brian Raftery and taking over the main spot after his departure, and lasting through the site’s switch from being hosted on Gawker to being hosted via Buzznet

A little photo news and all
Just updating on various things — no full report of the Blues Control show I was at the other night, but it was very good indeed and both Russ and Lea of said band are good folks. Took a few photos, though, and you can see them here — here’s one of my favorites: Meanwhile, from a few days back — already posted on Facebook/Twitter in honor of the season but this was my friend Abbott’s jack o’ lantern carving

Cream of potato cheese soup
With the latest basket came a slew of potatoes and sometimes I’m unsure of how to do something different with them. Thankfully a post on the Balloon Juice blog suggested this recipe, which I tried with happy gusto. The only major change was using soy milk.

Rice/Swiss chard soup
Nice. Always handy to have some arborio rice around. Recipe here, used vegetable stock rather than chicken.

White bean/kale/miso soup
This is a bit of a riff on this recipe, but with a few switches and substitutions. Lacking tomatoes, I used some small summer squash I had around, while there was no onion used in the base. Meanwhile the beans were canned and ready to go, reducing the cooking time. In any event, all v. delicious, a bit heavy on the miso in terms of taste but no worries there!