winter tomato soup.

Last night I was out in thick tights and a skirt, but coming home from work today was a shock. A slightly expected shock, but still. It didn't help that I had been at work way too long, that I no longer wanted to go to the gym, and that a bunch of stupid people who don't know how to park took all the spots on my street.

But once I got inside, it was okay - for I was going to bake bread, make soup, and watch The Wire. And not just any soup - this fabulously easy and delicious soup that my friend introduced to me. I've made it for multiple people and everyone loves it. Here, I'll just post the recipe (my notes in italics).

Winter Tomato Soup

Olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ c. dry red wine
7 cups chicken or beef broth (or veggie broth/stock)
2 cans (14.5 oz.) whole canned tomatoes (with juice, chopped) (or, just buy diced tomatoes and don't bother to chop!)
1 can (6oz.) tomato paste
1 package frozen chopped spinach (10oz.), thawed and squeezed dry and chopped again
dried oregano
dried basil
salt and pepper

Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add basil and oregano and stir. Add wine and stir for 1 minute. Add all ingredients except spinach and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add spinach and heat through. Add salt and pepper.

Serve with grated parmesan.

Additional serving suggestion: don't leave out the wine. Yes, it's a small amount. Drink the rest. Or, drink the small amount of leftover wine from having people over for dinner straight from the bottle while everything simmers. God, I'm not even hungry and I want more.

sometimes i wonder if luke wilson would think i'm pretty.

While I'm still not a huge fan of the gym and cannot wait for warmer weather so I can quit the damn thing, there are some other good things that I haven't mentioned yet. One is listening to This American Life while on the elliptical (reading totally hurts my eyes and slows me down), and a second is catching up on my trashy magazine reading.

I mostly like reading, er, gazing at US Weekly and the like for the fashion pictures and realizing how delightfully out of touch I am for not watching television. (Though I'm slowing putting the pop culture puzzle pieces together: Heidi Montag is some girl on The Hills which is some fake reality tv show like Laguna Beach?) My favorites are the semi-candid shots of celebs out and about, and it got me to thinking...what would my life look like if I had paparazzi after me? Not even all the time, but 10% of the time? I'm still not sure of the answer to that one, but as I thought about it more, I realized that a lot of people would probably really enjoy this, given the rise of navel gazing culture. But would anyone else care?

ode to my cat.

I got this little one a year ago. I picked her out at the Humane Society and just knew. I've been really lucky, she is sweet and affectionate and loves to play. Yes, she can sometimes be annoying by vocalizing her need to be entertained (and often), but I have never once regretted having her. So thank you, sweet kitty. Thank you for waiting for me at the door whenever I come home from work, thank you for our nighttime ritual of reading and cuddling, thank you for making me laugh so frequently because of your ridiculousness, and thank you for unconditionally loving anyone who walks through my door. Here's to many more years together.

xo,
e

p.s. if you could kindly get off my lap, maybe I could get my camera? Sheesh.

trying.

Not resolutions, exactly. Just things I need to remind myself to do. Some other ideas:
- Update your blog.
- Get outside and take some pictures.
- Host a dinner party, with courses.
- Go through old issues of the New Yorker, mark articles to read and cut out pictures to save.

And so on, and so forth. I'm sleepy.

random.

On Consumption
I just really really like this article. It also makes me very sad.

Easy White Bean recipe
I made this for dinner with brown rice, and it's super filling and delicious. Even without the bacon!

On Politics
I'm not a huge fan of politics for reasons I don't feel like getting into here, but I decided I wanted to watch the Democratic portion of the debates last night. Of course, now I'm sucked into reading the analysis of the debate and it's bad news. Speaking of politics....I need to decide my plan for the Republican Convention which will be a stone's throw away from my apartment. Should I house hippie protesters for free or charge rich republicans to stay here? Or, run the hell away? Oh, decisions.

resolutions.

Also:
- Get a working bike and ride it more. A lot more.
- Run a half marathon in under two hours.

Happy 2008!