6 slices bacon
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 shallots, chopped
6 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
4 cups milk
1 cup white cheese, grated
salt and pepper

1. Cook bacon in a large soup pot over medium-high heat until crispy.
2. Remove bacon from the pot and set aside on paper towel.
3. Add olive oil, onions, shallots and garlic to the bacon fat and sauté until tender.
4. Add the potatoes, mustard and milk and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.
6. Stir in cheese and season with salt and pepper.
7. Garnish with bacon bits and crusty bread.

Makes 6 large bowls

So far this year we've been blessed with a wonderful thing I like to call global warming. I think I feel my first "back in the day" story coming on here. When I was a kid, we used to routinely camp out in front of the television and see if the cable guide thermostat had dropped below 40° Celsius because that meant we wouldn't have to go to school. So far this year it's dropped below 20° maybe twice. To be honest, it really doesn't matter how cold it is once it's below zero because I'm bound to complain about it anyway.

Today is day one of a predicted two day dip in temperatures before the ozone hole is centered over us again. My nose is raw from persistently running and I feel a tinge of ennui. In other words, it seemed necessary to make up a pot of Potato Chowder. I found the recipe on Dear Crissy, who stole it from 101 Cookbooks who no doubt stole it from another cookbook who probably got it from their dead grandma. Such is the wonders of the internet and the life of recipes.

This recipe is fairly light, using a bit of olive oil instead of butter, milk in place of cream and not even a trace of flour to thicken the whole lot. I suppose if you wanted to you could omit the bacon and cheese, but then all you'd have left is some potato flavored milk and that's just not very appetizing. To be honest, before I added the cheese (and more salt) I thought that's what this was going to turn out to be, too. In the end, it was warm, hearty and actually quite tasty. It hit the spot that chowder was meant to hit.