Since I had some cider to use up (courtesy of the apple cider doughnuts), I decided to put some of it to good use in soup. I had a squash sitting around for awhile, earmarked for a new pasta dish I wanted to try out, but when it got cold and windy, all I wanted was a warming soup.

I added some turmeric to the pot for nutritional reasons, and some extra ginger for a bit more of a punch. Turmeric happens to be a powerful natural anti-inflammatory, and I try to add a little extra here or there when the dish warrants it.

This soup is great with fresh bread, such as my favorite homemade baguettes. With fresh bread and a salad, it makes a great autumn lunch or quick dinner.

Curried Squash Soup
somewhat adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Print Recipe

1 large butternut squash
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 McIntosh apples (could substitute another baking apple)
8 ounces (237 mL) apple cider
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
olive oil
salt
pepper

Position baking sheets in upper and lower thirds of oven. Preheat oven to 425F/220C.

Peel squash, then cut off top and bottom. Carefully cut the squash in half where the neck meets the base. Resting the base on its bottom, cut it down the middle so you can scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut the squash into 1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces and divide between two large baking sheets into two piles. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss with your hands to coat the squash, then arrange on pans so pieces aren’t touching each other.

Roast for 20 minutes, flip pieces over, then return pans to oven (switching them on the racks so the upper pan is now the lower pan) and roast for another 20 minutes.

In a large pot, heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft and beginning to brown. Add curry powder, turmeric, and ginger, stirring to coat the onions.

While onions are cooking, peel, core, and cut apples into 8 pieces per apple (large pieces). Add to pot with onions and cook until soft.

Add roasted squash, 2 cups water, and apple cider to pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low for 20 minutes. Use an immersion blender (or blend in batches in full size blender covered with dish towel – not a tight cover or you risk an explosion) to blend. Add water and/or additional cider as desired for consistency and taste. Adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve hot.

(A tip for butternut squash: look for the smallest base and longest neck for fewer seeds and more flesh.)

This soup helped me clear my refrigerator of a lot of CSA produce that was hanging out, begging to be used. Well, kind of – I still have most of the produce, it’s just now in soup form.

But a lunchtime vegetable soup I can eat all week long sounds good to me! In fact, I’ve still yet to tire of it, and I’ve eaten it several days in a row.

A word of warning – this makes a gigantic batch of soup. Frankly, I don’t know what Ina was thinking when she said it serves 6-8, unless she meant half a dozen football players. I’ve already served 6 bowls, and it seems I’ve barely put a dent in it.

As I mentioned, going to all that trouble, just for some pasta…not really worth it to me, when the vegetables are the star of the soup.

Print Recipes

Provençal Vegetable Soup
adapted from Barefoot in Paris

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
5 leeks, chopped (white and light green parts only)
1 1/2 pounds (680 grams) baby red potatoes, peeled and chopped
3/4 pound (340 grams) peeled carrots, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 quarts (about 3 L) chicken stock or vegetable stock*
2 pinches saffron threads
1/2 pound (340 grams) frozen haricots verts**
4 ounces (115 grams) whole wheat spaghetti**
1 cup (237 mL) Pistou
Salt & Pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan

First, make the Pistou (recipe follows), cover in a layer of olive oil to prevent discoloration, and refrigerate.

Clean and chop all veggies, placing cut potatoes and leeks in large separate bowls filled with cold water. Be careful not to disturb the leeks, so any sand and/or dirt caught in the leeks will fall to the bottom.

Heat olive oil in large Dutch oven or stockpot. Add onions and saute over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Carefully scoop out leeks from bowl and add to pot. Add potatoes, carrots, salt, and pepper; saute for another 10 minutes. Add stock and saffron, increase heat and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add haricots verts and spaghetti, simmer for 15 minutes.

Whisk in 1/4 cup (60 mL) of Pistou, then check seasoning; add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a spoonful of Pistou and Parmesan.

*Homemade stock is preferred, but you can use your favorite store-bought stock or broth. (I used a combination of homemade stock, Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock, and bouillon with corresponding amount of water.) Use vegetable stock for vegetarian soup.

**If not serving immediately, hold off on adding haricots verts, spaghetti, and pistou until just before serving. Just before serving, bring to a simmer and add haricots and spaghetti, simmer for 15 minutes, then whisk in the pistou. Also, you can certainly use fresh haricots, trimmed – they’re just not always available here.

Pistou

4-6 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons tomato paste
20-25 basil leaves
1/2 cup (115 grams) freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 cup (125 mL) extra virgin olive oil, plus more for storing

Place garlic, tomato paste, basil, and Parmesan in bowl of food processor. (Use the lower and upper end of ranges based on your taste – for example, I like more garlic, less basil.) Puree with “S” blade. With motor running on low, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Transfer contents to a container, cover with oil to prevent discoloration. Refrigerate until ready to use, up to 1 week.

I did it!!!

After last year’s failed attempt at finding a recipe for my favorite soup, I thought I’d never be able to make not just a decent broccoli cheese soup, but a really good version. It had to be thick and creamy – perfect for dunking warm bread – with a light taste of cheddar and some generous chunks of broccoli.

Then I made an outstanding beer cheese soup, and I realized there was hope. The secret, I suspected, was to use a combination of cheeses, similar to what I had done in the beer cheese version: some extra-sharp cheddar for flavor, and a mild melty cheese for texture.

Turns out I was right. Out of curiosity, I looked at the recipe I used last time. It really wasn’t that much different. I actually used more cheese this time, but substantially less cheddar. All it takes is a quick look at the pictures to see that the broccoli cheddar soup I made looked kind of like Cheez Whiz with bits of broccoli, whereas this new soup looks like the broccoli cheese soup we’re all used to seeing – and tastes like it, too!

If you currently have cool or rainy weather, might I suggest a bowl of this soup? For more intense cheddar flavor, play around with the proportions of cheddar and monterey jack.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Print Recipe

1 medium Vidalia onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1 cup 1% heated milk
2 cups 2% heated milk
12 ounces chicken stock
1 cup frozen broccoli chunks
1 tablespon Dijon mustard
5 1/2 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 1/2 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded*

Heat butter over medium heat in large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until onions are translucent and soft. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until it loses its raw flour scent, a minute or two.

Slowly whisk the milk into the onion mixture. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly. Add the broccoli and mustard. Increase heat to medium-high and whisk until thickened, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese, a handful at a time. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve with warm bread or croutons.

*Any mild cheese that melts well will work.

All month, my calendar has been tormenting me.

With each new month comes a new recipe. When I first flipped the page for April, I hoped I wouldn’t have cause to make April’s recipe: Beer Cheese Soup. It was the first full month of spring! Who would want to make a hearty soup?

Well, I’ve had my heat turned on for most of the month, and finally, the image of a cheesy soup, combined with the thought of fresh baked bread was more than I could take.

So on a cold, dark, rainy day, I took what I learned from making broccoli cheese soup to adapt Trega’s Beer Cheese Soup, then served it with warm baguettes. It turned out exactly as I hoped it would; the only thing more comforting on a cold day would be eating this soup in front of a roaring fire.

Beer Cheese Soup
recipe adapted from my Trega Foods calendar

Print Recipe

1 bunch leeks (2 or 3 large leeks)
2 carrots, peeled
2 celery ribs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 cups 2% milk
1 cup 1% milk
12 ounces beer
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
8 ounces medium cheddar, shredded
2 ounces emmentaler, shredded
salt & pepper

Finely chop leeks (white and light green part only). Place chopped leeks in a large bowl of cold water; agitate the leeks then let them sit for 15 minutes to allow any dirt and sediment to sink to the bottom of the bowl. Carefully scoop the leeks out with your hands to another large bowl and dry with paper towels. Finely chop the carrots and celery and add to the leeks.

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat butter over medium heat. Add vegetable mix and saute until softened. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Slowly add milk while whisking; season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the mustard and the beer and raise the temperature to medium-high, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Whisk constantly until thickened.

Remove pot from heat and stir in cheese, a little at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next.

Garnish with chopped green onions or croutons; serve with warm bread if desired.

Heat up any leftovers over low heat the next day (after one day, the soup starts to separate a bit).

Tip: For a weeknight meal, have the cheese shredded and vegetables cleaned and chopped ahead of time; pick up a baguette from the market or bakery and pop it in the oven for a few minutes to warm it through. Heat up any leftovers over low heat the following day.

I love a good tomato soup.

I’ve had excellent tomato soup in restaurants, and okay organic soup from a can…but to me, canned soup always tastes like…the can.

I’ve been meaning to make a roasted tomato soup for…too long. I’ve made it before, but I don’t exaggerate when I say it’s been years. Years! Pretty sad, huh?

So how did I finally get inspired to make tomato soup again?

A cookbook. There’s nothing crazy or unusual about this recipe, but it’s classic Ina: simple and delicious. I simply needed to page through The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook to be reminded that I should just make a big pot of soup. And, anyone who has roasted tomatoes before knows how sweet even out of season tomatoes can get, when a bit of heat is applied.

If you decide to make this soup, it’s either a weekend endeavor, or a two-part job (roast the tomatoes one day, make the soup another). It will take a couple of hours total, but you don’t have to do a whole lot in the kitchen during that time, freeing you up to catch up on your shows, give yourself a pedicure, or read that book that’s been calling your name.

Roasted Tomato Soup
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Print Recipe

3 pounds Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 large yellow onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons butter
28 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
4 cups chicken stock*
1-2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
Parmesan Croutons (see below)

Heat oven to 400*F.

Cut Roma tomatoes in half lengthwise. In a very large bowl, toss with 1/4 cup olive oil and salt. Spread on large baking sheet and season with pepper. Roast for 45 minutes; remove from oven and allow to sit at room temperature.

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, saute the onions and garlic with remaining oil and the butter until the onions start to brown. Add canned tomatoes (with their juices), basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the roasted tomatoes with any liquid on the baking sheet. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Taste; if overly-acidic, add 1 teaspoon of sugar.

Simmer 10 more minutes. Taste again, adjusting salt, pepper, and sugar as needed.

Pass through a food mill fitted with coarsest blade. Serve hot or cold.

Garnish with basil or croutons. (If you’re a cheese lover, you may as well garnish with additional parm, as well. It’s good. Very good.)

*Soup is vegetarian if made with vegetable stock or water. Soup is gluten free if made with gluten free stock and croutons (if using).

Parmesan Croutons

1 baguette, sliced 1/4 inch thick
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450*F. Arrange bread on a rimmed baking sheet (tip: line with foil for easier cleanup) and brush both sides with olive oil. Bake for 5-7 minutes or until golden.

Turn the broiler on. Sprinkle cheese on each crouton and broil until melted.

I never used to eat soup, the exception being Campbell’s Homestyle Chicken Noodle when I had a cold. I didn’t dip grilled cheese into tomato soup until I was an adult.

And then Panera came along. And Quiznos. I opted for smaller sandwiches and added a side of soup. First, I tried broccoli cheese. Delish! Then I would try French Onion. Yum!

You already know about my love/hate relationship with make broccoli cheese soup. And since the last disaster, I thought I’d try again, this time with cauliflower.

I made a few adjustments, which too me a little too far in the opposite direction. This soup is okay, but not great. Next time, I’ll probably go back to broccoli cheese and simply cut down on the amount of cheese added.

Or, I will cheat and get take-out soup, since I never seem to want the leftovers. I love cheesy soups, but my tolerance for them seems to be once every week or two, max.

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ yellow onion, diced
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups low fat milk
3 cups chicken stock
1 carrot, shredded
½ head cauliflower, cut into flowerets
4 ounces medium or sharp cheddar, shredded
salt and pepper

Heat butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 7 minutes. Whisk in flour. Continue to whisk until it starts to smell “nutty” and loses its raw flour scent.

Slowly whisk in milk, about a couple of tablespoons at a time (the flour mixture will remain thick during this time). Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer; simmer for 20 minutes.

Add carrots and cauliflower, simmer for another 20 minutes or until vegetables soften. Reduce heat to low, add cheese while whisking. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Most people ring in the New Year with a fancy-pants dinner and dessert.

I am not most people.

Sure, I’ve cooked the fancier dinners in previous years, or baked the fancy dessert, but this year, that all changed. Remember the French onion soup bowls I posted about on Christmas? Well, I had a hankering to use those as soon as possible. And B received a couple packs of really good bacon for Christmas…we both love cheese…we both love onions…so why not try another bacon recipe from Everyday Food? The bacon jam I made him was a hit, and I’ve made French onion soup so many times now, using many different recipes, that I’m pretty sure I can now make it in my sleep.

I did try out a new dessert recipe, which I will post on Thursday, but that was a make-ahead dessert, leaving me with plenty of time to relax on New Year’s Eve.

Or so I thought.

There was a little incident in the kitchen that night. I cooked the bacon, and while I was removing the browned pieces to their respective bowls, my fond on the bottom of the pan was verging on burning. I asked B for a container to pour the bacon grease into, but neither of us thought through the container. He usually pours off the grease after it’s cooled, into a plastic container.

Can you guess where I’m going with this?

Moments after I poured the very hot grease into the plastic container, it melted in half.

Bacon grease everywhere! Unfortunately, he had the task of cleaning the mess up while I attended to the onions and fond; the bottom of the pan had a nice brown coating, and we didn’t want to lose it. Or have it burn.

The onions have so much moisture that they easily allow for scraping up the browned bits from the bacon, so long as you didn’t use a non-stick pot.

As far as an easy soup recipe goes, this one is pretty good. It’s simple, but because you’re serving the soup immediately, deeper flavors don’t really get a chance to develop. Of course, using homemade stock versus store-bought broth will add layers of flavor, not to mention some health benefits, but for a quick dinner (or starter) for a bacon and onion lover, look no further.

Bacon Onion Soup
adapted from Everyday Food, December 2010

Print Recipe

12 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 large yellow onions, halved and sliced thin
32 ounces low sodium chicken broth
1 baguette, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 pound gruyere, shredded
extra virgin olive oil

Cook bacon in large heavy pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned (or well-browned, if you’re me). Remove with slotted spoon and separate into 2 small bowls. Pour off all but a tablespoon of fat (reserve bacon grease for another use) and add the onions. Cook until deep brown in color, stirring occasionally and scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon, about 75 minutes. If onions are burning, turn heat down to medium.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and stir in half the reserved bacon.

Preheat broiler. Brush baguette slices with olive oil and place under the broiler until they crisp up.

Fill onion soup bowls with soup and top each with one or two baguette slices. Top with shredded gruyere and reserved bacon pieces. Broil until bubbly.

serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a starter

I love Anne Willan’s book The Country Cooking of France because besides traditional recipes, it’s rich in both explanations and history. For instance, Anne says, “Parisians have tried to hijack French onion soup, but Lyonnais cooks can plausibly claim title to this bistro classic.”

She goes on to say there are two keys to good French onion soup: using pungent yellow onions, and caramelize them to the point that they are almost burned, to achieve more depth of flavor; she added her own personal tip of charring an onion and adding that to contribute even more complex flavor.

Now, as I explained in the recipe below, I browned the onions but didn’t fully caramelize them. Perhaps I’ve had too many sweet Americanized onion soups (likely full of added sugar, because half the time those onions were still crunchy – the sweetness wasn’t coming from the onions, that’s for sure) that I just am not interested in an overly sweet soup. That being said, next time I will make the soup the proper way, as I only have one other container left in my freezer, and I adore French onion soup, so I plan to enjoy it many times this winter.

Gratinée Lyonnaise (French Onion Soup)
adapted from The Country Cooking of France

4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
1 yellow onion, halved but not peeled
1 teaspoon sugar
48 ounces beef stock or broth
Croutons made with leftover cheese fondue and half a baguette, sliced 1/2 inch thick
Butter

Melt butter in dutch oven/soup pot over low heat. Add sliced onions and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Press a piece of buttered foil down tightly on the onions. Cover the pot and sweat, stirring occasionally, 20-25 minutes or until soft. Remove the lid and foil, raise the heat to medium-high, and continue cooking until the onions are very dark brown and reduced, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. *The recipe said this would take another 8-10 minutes, but never in my life have I seen onions caramelize that quickly; I stopped after 45 minutes when my onions were light brown – it will likely take more time to get the deep brown color the recipe calls for.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the sugar on the onion halves and heat another burner to high. Place the onion halves directly on an electric burner (use a dry frying pan over a high gas flame if you don’t have electric coil burners). Cook until charred, about a minute or two.

Add stock/broth to the browned onions, add charred onion. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer to blend the flavors, about 15 minutes. Remove charred onion and discard. Adjust seasoning as needed.

The soup can be made ahead and refrigerated for 2-3 days. Reheat on stove top.

Preheat broiler.

Line baking sheet with foil. Butter one side of baguette slices, arrange evenly spaced on baking sheet. Place under broiler until golden brown. Flip slices over and top with leftover cheese. Return to broiler until cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.

Either set 2-3 croutons in each bowl and top with soup, or ladle soup into bowls and add 2-3 croutons. Serve immediately.

I recently made an oven version of mushroom risotto. It was good, but not perfect, so I’ll work to perfect the timing before I post it. One thing that kind of stood out, however, was that the flavor wasn’t as round as usual. The only difference, other than the cooking technique?

I used store bought stock.

I know, I know, this happened just weeks after taking a picture of my stock-filled freezer, but one batch of soup depleted my chicken stock. I was out, so I purchased the stock I used to rely on. Do I believe it made the difference? Yes, I do. I bought my favorite cheese (and taste-tested it, of course) and my usual assortment of mushrooms…I even used better quality, more flavorful butter than in the past.

In the past, a friend and I would split the cost of stock ingredients, and we’d both have a pot of stock simmering away in our kitchens.

But really, that’s not necessary. I recently made a conscious effort to save peelings from carrots, parsnips, celery, and onions. When I cut more parsley than I needed, the extras went into the stock bag in my freezer (the writing on the bag smeared slightly, but it’s still obvious what’s in there). Anytime I didn’t use all of the thyme I purchased, into the stock bag it went. I do still buy dill specifically for stock, but after throwing one sprig into the stock pot, the rest goes into my stock bag.

This time, we aren’t transforming leftovers, we’re taking the scraps that most people throw away, and turning them into homemade goodness – essentially for free. Even if you don’t cook much with stock, freeze it for the winter and turn it into chicken soup when you don’t feel well, want a simple meal, of have leftover chicken to use up.

Here is a simple stock recipe using scraps:

1 chicken carcass, including skin (or a bunch of chicken bones you’ve saved)
Scraps/peelings from the following vegetables:
Carrots
Parsnips
Onions (any color)
Garlic
Celery
Parsley
Thyme
Dill
Additional flavorings:
1-2 dried bay leaves
about a dozen peppercorns

To make the stock, simply pile everything into a large pot and fill with water. (If you have a large slow cooker, you can put everything in there, turn it on low, and just let it go for hours). Simmer for at least 12 hours, longer if you can, adding water as needed. Strain out the solids, pour the liquid through a sieve into a large bowl, cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Skim the solidified fat and throw away. Portion out the stock into freezer-safe containers, leaving about ½ – ¾ inch of headspace. I like using 2 cup containers; I’ve never needed less than 2 cups at a time, and the stock thaws a lot faster when you have two 2-cup containers, rather than one 4 cup container. (If using plastic containers, avoid putting them in the microwave, thaw in the fridge instead.)

I’ve been fighting a cold for most of the week. It didn’t stop me from cooking, but I did welcome the opportunity to use a coupon for a rotisserie chicken. Two days later, I still had the majority of a chicken left (I’d eaten half of a breast on two different occasions), but not much energy to do anything with it.

Chicken soup sure did sound good, though. Unfortunately, I’d used the last of my chicken stock when I made this soup that I ended up not even liking. My refrigerator was rather short on supplies, and we were in the middle of a windstorm the experts likened to a Category 3 Hurricane. Now, for those of you who’ve dealt with hurricanes and typhoons, that may not sound like a big deal to you, because you deal with those winds on a somewhat regular basis.

We don’t. We get snowstorms, tornadoes, and the occasional mild earthquake that few of us actually feel. I’m in the middle of a continent! There are no oceans here, just a few (well, five really) rather large lakes. And a host of small lakes (14,000 in my state alone), but they don’t influence the weather here.

So did I really want to venture out in the wind, in my walking boot to get soup? Not so much.

Instead, I analyzed the contents of my refrigerator, freezer, pantry, and yes, even my garden still. Here’s what I had to work with:

*most of a rotisserie chicken
* a couple of carrots
*a couple of onions
*a few cloves of garlic
*thyme (in the freezer)
*parsley (in the garden)
*dried bay leaves
*peppercorns
*cider vinegar
*angel hair pasta

At about 7:30 in the morning, I picked off the breast meat, set it aside, and threw the rest of the carcass, including all the dark meat and skin, into my big pot. I then added a couple of carrots and onions, the remaining garlic, herbs, peppercorns, a bunch of water, and a splash of vinegar. Now, I really wanted that soup for lunch. Not enough time to make stock, right?

It is if you’re in a hurry and don’t care if you have cloudy stock. Really, all I cared about was the goodness in those bones, specifically the gelatin. The calcium was a bonus, and a splash of vinegar would help draw it out during cooking.

After a morning of cooking, I removed the legs from the pot and let them cool a bit before shredding. The meat was still fine, and perfect to add to my soup. I then removed the remaining solids and strained the stock into a bowl.

Dice up a carrot and onion and saute them in a little butter in a medium saucepan, until they just start to brown. Then I added the strained stock and tossed in some more herbs, tested the seasoning several times (it always needs more salt than I anticipate), and added the shredded chicken to warm it through. I had no small egg noodles (the only kind I like in chicken soup), but I did have angel hair, so I broke some of that into short pieces, and tossed it in for a couple of minutes.

Presto! Homemade chicken soup, the biggest cold-fighter I know of. I refrigerated the leftovers, and a glance at this container shows just how gelatinous my stock got:

Not the most appetizing picture, I know, but it’s delicious once it’s warmed through!