The King of Vegetable Soups.

The major labor of the day was in the making of one HUGE batch of soup. I'm serious about the size of this batch since it filled two stock pots and one smaller cooking pot. We went shopping this morning for all the ingredients, which I will list below.

2 red potatoes
4 Yukon Gold potatoes
2 turnips
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 cabbage
1 bunch of kale
6 tomatoes
4 tomatilos
1 large leek
2 yellow onions
1 red onion
1 bunch of celery
1 portobello mushroom
3 white mushrooms
8 shitake mushrooms
12 brussell sprouts
2 yellow summer squash
3 small zucchini
7 carrots
2 oz. fresh basil
1/3 cup fresh parsley

This all had to have a base, of course, which was a vegetarian version of chicken boullion. It makes a freaking delicious soup- and now the plan is the keep most of it in smaller containers in the freezer to pull out regularly for quite some time. (I'm supposed to make nonstarchy vegetables 1/2 of my diet.) Before I met Paul, I had never tried several of these vegetables and some of them are new as of today. Before today, I had never tried tomatilos and both of us had never had kale before. I recommend kale if you want an alternative to lettuce every now and then. It smells vaguely minty but it doesn't taste that way at all. It's kind of like lettuce with a bit more flavor.... difficult to describe but worthwhile to try.

Oh, if you want to make this soup, it's delicious with various combinations of whichever vegetables you happen to like. Pick and choose between the ones above, although I have to say potatoes are a must. The flavor is just not quite right without them. Anything else can be in whatever quantity you desire and feel free to not include any of the above as well. The important thing is just to find ways to get more vegetables in your diet- it will always make you feel like such a healthy person!

Is "will power" actually one word or two?

Wow. I've come down with some kind of cold/allergy/head congestion sickness and I am just not good at making myself do things when I'm sick. I was just visiting my friend and she has a similar sickness, except that she's been working fifty hours this week at a demanding job and I cannot see how she is still alive.

In the the beginning of time when the traits were being handed out, I just didn't get in line for "will power." I suppose I thought that I wouldn't need that particular one if I had certain others, but I sometimes seriously wish that I had it. When it comes down to it, I just simply don't.

So make sure to let me know if someone comes around again handing out traits... I'll get in line for will power this time and then I will be completely unaffected by any illness...!

Ha ha ha.

The Lesson of IPODs.

Yesterday when I was driving, I almost hit a girl on a bike! It was in kind of a weird situation where this car was parked the road and I was continually blocked by oncoming traffic from leaving a parking lot. I finally had a chance to zip in between two cars, so I hit the gas and right that second, a young woman on a bike appeared from nowhere in the same space and I just about creamed her. Seriously. I was maybe an inch from hitting her! It scared me to death.

The crazy thing is that she didn't even notice. I'm not kidding! She was listening to an IPOD and didn't even turn her head in my direction! She was very nearly escorted to the pearly gates and she wasn't even aware of it. I really don't know how some people have survived to adulthood. She must have had extremely protective parents who were there to prevent her from, you know, sticking forks into light sockets and riding in the car without a seatbelt. Otherwise I'm sure she would have died long ago by just not paying attention to the world.

But I was grateful anyway that I didn't actually kill her. It would have been so horrible if I hadn't noticed her until after she was under my car.

So this is the lesson of... Ipods. Ipods can kill you if you're not careful. :)