Dance soothes my soul...and so does this Sweet Potato Soup!

This cake is ACTUALLY a deep and beautiful autumn orange colour, but you know how my camera is...

Dance today was alright for the most part- all work for my first two classes, but my last one was interesting because we have a sub right now, her name is Miss Thies and she is amazing. Although she talked for most of the class and I had a very hard time grasping her concepts, she's really really knowledgeable about the anatomy of dancers, different muscles, etc so it's awesome to have her around because you can ask about your body. And if something hurts, there's a 99% chance that she can fix it. I've seen it happen! I've had it happen! She always has some kind of hands on method to strangle your leg or foot in a way that just HEALS it, I swear, it's like witchcraft. This one time she straddled a girl's leg and like, shook it so violently while dropping it on the floor multiple times, and shaking it again...and after a few repetitions of that...I, and 15 other witnesses SAW the girl's leg actually grow longer than her other leg. It was NUTS. So of course, Miss Thies had to do the same to the other leg to even it out. I was a skeptic until that moment.

We had an audience today but we weren't doing much dancing, just a whole lot of talking and listening. At the end though, she split us into two groups, put on a Josh Groban tune and told us to do a minute and half of improv on the spot. Wait, what!? In front of an audience!? First of all, ballet teachers never EVER do this. Everything is very structured in a ballet class, everything is taught the way it is supposed to be taught- you don't make things up on the spot...I was absolutely TERRRRRIFIED to get up there. I totally thought I was going to blank out on the spot but kind of took it on a more positive level and pretended like no one was judging me. And guess what? I never thought I would enjoy the experience but it was so liberating to just listen to your body and what it wanted to do with the music. I just wanted it to go on forever. The rush...the freedom...and the courage it took to get out there and just DANCE was an extremely satisfying experience. A parent even came up to me after and told me it was beautiful! :)))

Anways- this soup...it tastes SO good on these chilly nights where you want something light but filling! I like my soup two ways, either chockful of veggies and so chunky it's a stew, or pureed like baby food. This is the pureed kind and it's absolutely wonderful. So smooth and creamy without cream! Non-vegans, you can serve this to your guests with a small pitcher of cream if you want that extra-richness, but I personally think it tastes just as wonderful all by itself.

This sweet potato soup is garlicky and lemony with aromatic hints of fresh rosemary! It tastes like YAM FRIES in a bowl.

Sweet Potato Rosemary Soup (Vegan and Gluten Free) serves 4

• 1 large sweet potato (750 g), peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 sprig of rosemary, leaves only
• zest of half a lemon
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• 2 tsp olive oil
  
  In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat and cook onions, garlic, and sweet potato for 5 minutes. Add rosemary, lemon zest, stock, and water and let simmer for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Transfer to a food processor or blender (you may need to do this in batches) and puree the soup until smooth. Strain soup over a sieve and serve! Enjoy!!