Greetings from Jenny
I often try to remember the first time I visited an old fashioned country mercantile, but I can’t. It almost feels as if it must have been a past life familiarity. The old labels on jars of jams and jellies. Pickles in barrels with a scoop so you can dig one out and eat it on the spot. Old wooden floorboards in wide planks that echo from the sound of your heels as you make your way over to your favorite section. For me, it was always the books.
Books that were old with damaged spines or bent corners. They smelled of dust and old paper. The textures were all different. Some had fancy scroll work on their covers and actual watercolor paintings illustrating the pages. Some were just simply bound with a simple story or a poem. Essays that made you think or blank pages waiting for you to fill them up.
But oh, to find an outstanding adventure was always the luckiest thing! And that led me here, to Maudeline Plum Mercantile. I hope you find a favorite in the stories I’m creating for you. Within the mercantile, filled with all kinds of goodies and characters, there’s a book nook, a place to sit in front of the fire in one of the most comfortable wingback chairs, put your feet up, and open the pages to an adventure with your input. Your choices determine how the story goes. Will you make it through to the end? Well, that remains to be seen. You can return again and again to change course, should you want to try to discover ALL the paths that may be there for you to find.
From me to you, I want to share my love of the old mercantiles; the love of the bookstores; the love of old-fashioned goods wrapped up and bundled together with string. This site will grow over time. But for now, watch for an upcoming sneak peek into the adventures ahead..
Maudeline Plum’s New Year’s Day Easy Cheesy Vegetable Soup
A delicious cheesy-vegetable soup recipe for those cold winter days. Image is an illustration of the cheesy soup.
New Year’s Day at the Mercantile looks like this: Individual pots warming the table, bread breaking with a crunch, cheese melted just enough to hold everything together.
New Year’s Day welcomes you to the Mercantile.
The bell on the door rings. Snow-covered boots are left by the hearth. A flannel shirt with rolled-up sleeves is perfect attire for keeping the fire burning. It’s that kind of day. Comfort. Casual. Slow.
The air carries the scent of butter melting, vegetables softening, bread warming nearby. There is no urgency here. Only the comfort of familiar faces, low conversation, and the steady promise of something nourishing on the stove is on the agenda.
Maudeline makes this soup for days like this, when beginnings should be easy. When love looks like a shared table, and friendship feels like being handed a warm bowl without having to ask. Potatoes and cauliflower simmer together with carrots and onion, all tucked beneath a generous crown of bread and melted Gouda, meant to be broken through slowly, steam rising, conversation lingering, hearts warming.
This is a soup for resolutions. The kind where we choose to slow down with intention this year. Where we pay attention to the little things. The soft surfaces. The simple additions.
It is a soup for belonging.
P.S. You can experiment by adding a touch of paprika and garlic, or perhaps drizzle it with pesto, or by adding any other spices you like to personalize it, making it your kind of New-Year’s-Day cozy.
— From Maudeline Plum’s kitchen
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1-1/2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and diced
1-1/2 lbs. cauliflower florets
1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced
1 sweet onion, chopped
4–5 cups vegetable broth (more as needed)
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 slices French bread
3/4 lb. Gouda cheese, sliced
Instructions
Melt the butter in a large oven-safe Dutch oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat.
Add the potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and onion. Sauté until the onion turns soft and golden, about 7 minutes.
Pour in 4 cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender. Add more broth if the soup becomes too thick.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Keep the soup right in the Dutch oven or ladle it into six oven-safe crocks or bowls.
Arrange the bread slices over the soup, then layer the Gouda on top, covering the bread completely.
Broil about 6 inches from the heat source until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and lightly golden.
Serves 6 — more if shared generously.
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