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Improvised Lentil Soup

The former vegetarian in me hates to admit this, but the secret to really good lentil soup is bacon.

I’m sorry. Maybe the splash of balsamic helped too, but I’ve made lentil soup many times and it’s always been kind of bland, and the leftover bacon I had helped it. A lot.

There are no pictures because it’s dark and lentil soup was not exactly destined for magazine covers, you know what I’m saying?

Improvised Lentil Soup

In a stock pot, saute the following in olive oil:

• chopped onions
• minced garlic
• chopped carrots
• chopped potatoes
• chopped bacon (kind of optional)
• (and whatever else, like celery!)

When they are soft, add:

• 8 cups stock/water/some combination of the two
• 1-2 cups lentils
• if you only have 1 cup of lentils, try brown rice!
• herbs like thyme and oregano

Simmer until things are all good and soupy. At the end, don’t forget to add:

• salt and pepper
• a splash of balsamic vinegar
• and might I suggest, some chopped spinach or kale, whatever you have around.

[Adapted from The Joy Of Cooking]

Programming Notes

1. November is coming soon, and instead of attempting to do NaNoWriMo when I am truly awful at fiction, I’m going to update my blog every day. Simple links, videos, and pictures I like won’t count - we’re talking full text post action here. You can also expect more writing on themes, perhaps more Rants On Ridiculous Scenes In Movies, reviews of albums I own but haven’t listened to in years, and trying to live by my horoscope. Any more ideas? Let’s hear ‘em.
2. I am nearing 500 tumblr posts, and I want to do something special. Now friends, when I said I wanted to do something fun for my 400th post, it was all radio silence and tumbleweeds. This will not do! Sure, I can think of something myself but it would be better if you helped. Tools at my disposal include a camera, a webcam, a penchant for dressing up and being silly, and a willingness to embarrass myself (but not too much).

Ideas? Comments? How is your day?

Rants About Ridiculous Scenes In Otherwise Okay Movies #1: the Underwater Makeout Scene in Whip It

A good kissing scene in a movie should leave something to be desired, something that seems just a little out of reach, yet achievable. Example: the pouring rain kissing scene from The Notebook. It’s romantic, and hot, and even though it’s maybe not LIKELY that I’ll just happen to get in a little argument with a fella in the middle of a rainstorm that culminates in our making out hardcore, it’s still possible. (Right?)

In Whip It we have Bliss, the roller girl, and her adorable indie rock crush, Oliver. Somehow they end up at a deserted but very well lit indoor pool late at night. They stand on opposite sides of the pool deck, make eyes at each other, then dive in and start kissing underwater. The good news is that instead of using the cliched “let’s pull off all our clothes and swim naked”, they instead take off their clothes underwater. (This movie has a lot of cliches already.) The bad news is that the whole scene was SO. FREAKING. STUPID. It looked nice enough, but I kept thinking oh hey you guys just drowned because give me a break you can’t stay under that long without air. Believe me I’ve tried. Also oh hey I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a pool with chlorine but keeping your eyes open underwater actually hurts a lot and isn’t super sexy and you can’t see anything all that well and doesn’t Bliss wear contacts anyway and OMG THIS IS SO FREAKING STUPID.

So yeah. The movie was enjoyable overall, I mean, nothing spectacular, but fun enough. Why they had to go and ruin a potentially very fun makeout scene is beyond me, though.