I enjoyed this soup. I would recommend straining it or using a food mill because even after the blender, the artichoke hearts had some fibrous strings left in my soup. Not a lot, but my food mill would have taken care of that, had I used it. I ate it with croutes (julia child volume 1 page 44) my tried and true way of using up leftover artisan bread. The croutes sometimes make the soup in my opinion... I couldn't find frozen artichoke hearts at Rosauers or Albertsons, and was about to substitute canned, but finally found them at Safeway. I had some with cream, some without. Good both ways if you love those flavors.