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Lentil Soup, two ways
In the same episode of Barefoot Contessa with the yummy grilled tuna rolls, she made a delicious looking lentil vegetable soup, so I decided to try it at home. Her recipes always make WAY too much, so I halved it. Good thinking, since there are only 3 of us. Plenty for dinner and several leftover lunches. This is the full recipe. If you go for it, make sure you have a BIG pot. Lentil Vegetable Soup Ingredients 1 pound French green lentils (recommended: du Puy) 1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for serving 4 cups diced yellow onions (3 large) 4 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts only…
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Things I’ve Done…
(lovely art, titled ‘Regret’, found here) and would like to never do again. I saw this over at Suebob’s blog, and I thought it was genius. So here goes…a list of things I’ve done, and would like to NEVER do again. Warning. This may get gross. Get a bad perm Vomit in the bathroom of a bar Fall down while pushing my car, which was out of gas, and get dragged (drug?) across the street by said car, finally stopping when my car crashed into another car, and looking up and seeing that the car belonged to a guy in my French class. Thankfully, his car was a beater, and…
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Grilled Tuna Rolls
(photo and recipe found here) I was watching Barefoot Contessa the other day, and she made some amazing looking sandwiches, with rare seared Ahi Tuna, avocados, and an Asian dressing. I was intrigued, and decided to make it for dinner one night. Grilled Tuna Rolls Ingredients Good olive oil 1 pound very fresh tuna steak, 1-inch thick Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper zest of 1 lime 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes) 1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder 1 teaspoon soy sauce 5 dashes hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco) 1 firm, ripe Hass avocado, medium-diced 1/4 red onion, chopped 1 tablespoon minced scallion, white and green parts 1 tablespoon…
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Dear Mom
I miss you all the time, every day, but somehow Sunday evenings are the hardest for me. Sunday was our time, when we would talk for hours, sometimes about politics, sometimes about ideas – books, meals, Maya, family memories. All of it. I feel like the late teen years, I was so busy figuring out who I was, busy with work and school and friends, and I took you for granted. But still, we lived in the same house and I saw you every day, even if it was just passing in the hall on our way out the door in the morning. Then I moved out, went to San…
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Her Fearful Symmetry
image found here Robert took off his round wire-rimmed glasses and his shoes. He climbed into the bed, careful not to disturb Elspeth, and folded himself around her. For weeks she had burned with fever, but now her temperature was almost normal. He felt his skin warm slightly where it touched hers. She had passed into the realm of inanimate objects and was losing her own heat. Robert pressed his face into the back of Elspeth’s neck and breathed deeply. Elspeth watched him from the ceiling. How familiar he was to her, and how strange he seemed. She saw, but could not feel, his long hands pressed into her waist…
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Spaghetti Sauce Sandwich
I was alerted by my blog/Facebook friend, Simon, that this weekend was Sandwich Party #5, which is pretty self-evident. Make a sandwich. Share on your blog. Well, I went to Stockton and took Grandma and Aunt Flo to Sizzler on Saturday, and dined on cheese and crackers on Sunday, so I didn’t get around to making a sandwich for the party until Monday. I thought about trying to do something fancy with arugula and brie or something, but decided to go retro instead. When serving spaghetti, some people mix the noodles together with the sauce in one big serving bowl, while others serve the noodles plain, and top them individually…
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Grammar Question…
(photo found here) What’s with the quotes? Really, don’t we mean, DO NOT EAT, as in the imperative, not as in a quote from a play or something? Ted brought me home some Secretariat movie swag (knowing my horsie love), and the binoculars came with some desiccant that included this message. I was confused. Should I eat it, or was the quote really a warning? Like, “Beware the ides of March” No. Probably more than that.
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Rotisserie Chicken at Home!
A few months ago, our trusty toaster oven gave up the ghost, leaving us toastless. I am not the kind of person who is willing to live that way. I need toast. Years ago, we used to have a regular toaster, but when that died, we decided to go the toaster oven route, because it’s better for so many other things, and because you can broil or roast in it as well. So when that toaster oven blew out, we wanted to find another that was roomy enough to roast a small chicken, should we be so inclined. I started out at the local shops, Best Buy, Target, and Bed…
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What’s Wrong with this Picture?
(found here)
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My Hollywood
Mona Simpson’s newest novel, My Hollywood, explores the relationship between upper-middle class and wealthy women in Santa Monica, and the women they hire to care for their children. Claire is a composer from New York, who moves to Santa Monica with her husband and baby so that her husband, Paul, can pursue his dream of writing TV sit-coms. She is successful enough, in that she is offered commissions, and receives a Guggenheim fellowship, and travels to New York to see a piece she has written performed. However, they are not wealthy by Santa Monica standards, they rent their home, and she doesn’t quite understand the money of the people around…