winter soups...

it hailed, it snowed, it sunned....so is another quirky day in Moscow. Happy st patty's day! I decided to start drinking early today while cooking a tasty soup. I had some hot italian sausage from the co-op (refrain from jokes) that I really wanted to incorporate into a soup of some sort. I settled on potatoes, lentil, carrots, mushroom, asparagus, and red bell peppers pureed with chicken broth and a healthy spill of black peppercorns. Let's just say my pepper mill had a break down mid-milling and decided to vomit into my soup...I fished out most of the peppercorns, but a healthy does stayed in the soup to relieve my sinuses of even the idea of plugging up anytime soon. I added a good dose of paprika as well since it is spotlighted in one of my fave soups from moosewood - hungarian mushroom soup. it turned out pretty darn tasty, except you have this urge to cough with every spoonful, but that could serve a useful health purpose in the long run.

I had a wonderful st patty's day with Alex and Jeanne. It's so very rare to find a group of folks that I really feel at home with and also with whom I connect so easily (that awkward sentence was my attempt to not end in a preposition, thank you very much elements of style and 11th grade english teacher mr. arfwedson)...they are great people and I'm glad that we can actually hang out and socialize. Ellen joined in the fun and I hope she felt ok, but it's hard to join in on a group after they've been bonding over a few pitchers of beer. I want to make it a goal to surround myself with happy people with similar outlooks on life. It's understandable to have down days - that's where you go to friends and family to help you up and limp about the week...but at some point, I feel like making a conscious decision that I don't have time in my life for dead weight and "little black clouds" as Kristin puts it...life is far too short for feelings of that nature...

"this is a call to arms to live and love and sleep together" - mgmt

p.s. i really love the new safari 4.0