Soup!

Soup = perfect food; there's really nothing more to it than that. So, courtesy of a snow day, here are 2 of my favorites. They're variations on a theme: celery, carrots, onions, starch, other stuff, simmer. And be happy and full and warm :)

Lentil Soup

2 T oil
1 cup dry brown lentils
1/3 cup barley
1 large onion, minced
2 stalks of celery, minced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
6 cups water
2 tsp tomato paste

Heat the oil in a medium pot. Add the lentils and barley and cook over high heat for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the carrots, tomato paste, and water. Cover and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes until the lentils and barley are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I often use 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped, in place of the barley, and it's also good with sweet potatoes. You can also mix in finely chopped kale near the end of the cooking time.

Mushroom Barley Soup

2 T oil
1 cup barley
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 oz dried mushrooms
4 cups water

Heat the oil in a medium pot. Add the barley and cook over high heat for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Add the onion and celery and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the carrots, both types of mushrooms and water. Cover and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes until the barley is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I've added a little bit of dill to this in the past, but I really like it better "unseasoned" to let the flavor of the mushrooms shine. (The dried mushrooms are key, although I suppose you could leave them out and substitute mushroom broth for the water.) It's really good served with a little sour cream or plain yogurt.

Retracing the Steps

The Internet is really really great...for randomness. Through a series of events (names have been changed to protect the innocent), my friend and I stumbled across Internet Boy's Failed Vacation, in which Internet Boy is dragged to a Series of Places in Rural Ohio. As we had neither gas nor time to recreate the whole series, we focused on one -- the Columbus Washboard Company. "Aha!" you might say. "It's in Columbus!" WRONG. We had the privilege of driving to Logan Ohio for a visit. (A surprisingly fun visit, I was forced to admit.) There were whoozits and whatzits aplenty, there were gizmos and gadgets galore. (And pictures, we took pictures.)



Friend, here. The blog auteur was kind enough to let me drag her on this trip-o-randomness, which included -- much to her joy -- a shop dog at the door. After seeing the dilapidated old shoe warehouse the washboards are now constructed in, the shop dog was very comforting. We were preparing for falling bricks.





Instead, we found Laura, a very... perky woman. With an oversized Columbus Washboard Co. T-shirt and a ....abducted!



(My friend is a journalist. And this is not an article.)


It was cool. There were washboards. And a dog. (The dog was really cute but we didn't take any pictures of him, and sadly, we didn't see the shopcat. But there were warnings posted not to let her escape.)




REL <3s her washboard.
And I am merely surprised that it didn't suck. (Seriously, it was fun. Weird, I KNOW.)

And us, with everything that we bought. (4 for me and 3 for REL. Mmmhmm the power of random to generate sales.)

Yay for the internet!