Today I made one of my favorite Lenten (ie - vegetarian for abstinance days) Recpies for Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup. I created this myself by experimenting with ingredients until I got a result that my family - including my non-soup-loving husband - really enjoys. You can serve it as a meal with some sprinkled croutons & parmesan on top, or pair it with a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich - I recommend French Emmenthal on Italian or Sourdough bread. It also pairs nicely with Pino Grigio or similar white wines.

Enjoy!

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup - VEGETARIAN

 3 tbs butter, divided

½ cup diced onion (about 1 small onion – yellow or white)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 jar (12 ounce size) roasted red peppers, drained, rinsed, any seeds removed.

¼ C. all purpose flour OR 1/8 C. Wondra

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk (can use fat-free evaporated milk if needed)

1 can (14 ½ oz.) vegetable  broth * 

½ tsp. Garlic Salt

¼ tsp. Ground black pepper

 
Directions:

1. Melt 2 tbs of butter in medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Sautee onion and garlic until softened. Remove from heat.
3. Place cooked onion and garlic along with red peppers in blender or food processor. Puree until smooth (add a bit of the vegetable broth if needed to puree it)
4. Melt remaining butter in saucepan and add flour or Wondra to make rue.
5. Gradually stir in evaporated milk and vegetable broth into the rue, stirring constantly to combine it and remove lumps. Bring mixture to a boil.
6. Add red pepper puree, season with Garlic salt and pepper and heat through.

EVIL spelled backwards is LIVE.

Huh. The things you learn playing Boggle...


[On another note, I had no idea Blogdrive was going to begin adding weird and often irrelevant ads-by-Google to the bottom of each blog entry! Sorry. I'm too cheap to buy a subscription so I guess I have to give in to the terms of the server-wielders.]

If you are out and about and see someone with a big smudge on their forehead, don't offer them a tissue! Today is Ash Wednesday - a special day of prayer and fasting for certain Christan sects that ushers in the season of Lent. Today at Mass, the portion of the above cited reading that was emphasized in the homily was "all your heart" (also translated as "your whole heart.")

I like the idea of approaching the relative newness (and thus, abundance of opportunity) of this year with full capacity of sentiment, emotion, effort, and thought.

Ok, THAT quasi-piety out of the way, I can now comment on the part of this reading that always makes me snicker:


Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows that I am very exacting and deliberate with my choices of  clothing, accessories and such. It took me a LONG time to really develop  a sense of purposefullness in my personal style; and I'm not talking about "fashion" per se. Rather, I used to be a bargain hound who focused on labels and pricetags and relative value.  I used to have all sorts of mismatched and rarely-worn garments and accessories (shoes, bags, etc.) in my closet and streaming out of my dresser,  which have finally ended up in a donation pile for a local thrift store. Instead of quantity, I have honed in on quality and fit as the top qualifiers for my personal  purchase-ability. So this year, I am continuing with my trend of watchfulness and waiting - not choosing on the spot because of an incredible markdown. 

I am also beginning to choose items that may be FULL PRICE but that I feel will fill a very practical (yet fabulous) niche in my wardrobe. So I am not just using my WHOLE HEART to shop anymore - also my whole WALLET!

I love my new site meter.

I get to read about visits to my blog where people FOUND discussions of Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Boggle, and other good ole'-fashioned manners of time-wasting, instead of what they were SEARCHING FOR:

"sex games wild girls and boys different games"

I'm going to load up dear old Philly Expatriate with some really juicy terms and see who stops by for a visit (and more interesting - WHAT they are looking for!)

So don't be ANAL; COME often, look HARD, and read all about the NAKED truths of life with my family and pets, including my lovely BLACK PUSSY. Oh, and I also have some SLIMY snails and PINK, WIGGLY fish who live in the WET, WET pond. Oh, yeah, they are REALLY WET.

As further testimony to my true nerdiness, (as if anyone needed MORE proof) the last night the hubby and I played Trivial Pursuit: The 90's Time Capsule Edition.

I landed on a brown space which signifies "video/tv/film" in this version. Hubby asked the question:

"What motion picture director appeared in a Benneton ad and decried AIDS as a government conspiracy?"

Instantly, I thought of some of the more "hip" and fashionable directors of the 90's. Jim Jarmusch? Gus Van Zandt? Finally I offered my feeble-minded response:

"Michael Moore?"

Hubby replied with his usual zinginess, "Uh, I can't see Michael Moore in a Benneton ad. Now maybe a Bene-TON, ad..."

Whah-whah-whahhhhhhh...

(btw, the correct answer was "Spike Lee")

Our household will be enjoying palm-burning, throat-blessing and dessert-tasting on Sunday...and, no that has nothing to do with Superbowl party plans!

In an unusual confluence of dates, Ash Wednesday occurs next Wednesday, the 6th. Thus, we are to return our blessed palms from last year's Palm Sunday to church this week, where they will be burned and blessed for the ashes for Wednesday's ceremony.

Because people are usually so busy during the week, there is also a bake sale Sunday  with assorted homemade goodies, so we can "fatten up" in a tamer version of a Mardi Gras celebration. And finally, Sunday Feb. 3rd is ALSO St. Blaise Day which means that AFTER Mass there will be ANOTHER ceremony for the traditional blessing of the throats. The gist of the legend is that St. Blaise saved someone who was choking on a fish bone.

So, I'm wondering, if I have my throat blessed prior to ingesting grand quantities of dessert, does that mean all those goodies are calorie-free that day? I also have to fear many tasteless (but, of course, funny) innunedos from my husband having to do with throats and bones and...oh you get the idea!

... you go downstairs to check on her, and find her 8-year-old-bucket parked in what resembles a makeshift coffin (with pillows & blankets for comfort!) while watching a dvd of classic Frankenstein.

Hmm, I should bring home "stale coffee" more often...wonder what would happen if it weren't "free trade" and "organic" as well...



...and is it me, or does her "husband" have a hugely WIDE arse?

A few weeks ago, I was cajoled into ordering a Sunday-only home delivery subscription to the Chicago Tribune while innocently browsing the fine produce at my local supermarket. To be honest, I kept staring that the salesman's beautiful pale-blue cashmere sweater (the quality of it was like nothing I had even seen on a man!) and thus somehow ended up signing away a precious $12.95 a month for the convenience of a driveway-dropoff of a pile of paper & ink.

This morning, I actually looked forward to perusing the paper while sipping coffee. I first browsed the coupons and then hit the usual suspects: front page, Home & Garden, Metro, Tribune magazine and...the Book Section...uh, where was the book section? I rifled through the pile twice more and still couldn't find it. Before cursing my distributor, I did a quick Google search and learned that sometime ago the Trib did away with the Book Section in its Sunday edition, offering a pared-down version of it, tabloid style, in the SATURDAY paper -likely the LEAST-READ edition they print.

WTF?!

I don't understand how PRINT MEDIA decides to eliminate news of PRINT MEDIA...but yet, retain the utterly inane "Q" section: this week's highlights in Q includes a discussion of Lindsay Lohan and the trend of wearing knee socks with tall boots. Oh, and despite prodcing their own magazine, they also include a copy of low-brow "Parade" magazine. [sidebar: I can't help but giggle, thinking of Stewie Griffin reprimanding his future self in disgust: "You read Parade?!?!"]

Except for the value I do find in Metro (local news, obituaries, etc.) I may delete this subscription and go for the New York Times instead.

Last weekend I attended a workshop for "Ministers of Care" (people who take communion to nursing homes, hospitals & the homebound) for the parishes in my area. My church occupied two tables. I was, of course, the youngest person in the entire room by a good twenty years. But I do enjoy the company of Seniors so I was not bothered by that, nor did I feel unwelcome.

The workshop consisted of a talk by a Franciscan Brother and then a sheet listing hypothetical situations that we, as Ministers, could experience while making our rounds. The idea was to read the situation and then discuss our solutions as a table and present to the entire group.

One situation was described as: "You are making rounds in the hospital and run into a neighbor; you learn that their mother is there for a face lift and tummy tuck. You offer to visit her and put her on the prayer list. The family is adamant that you do not do this."

So, our table began to discuss this, and most agreed, "Well if they don't want the prayers then no big whoop!" One woman stated, "You know you can just say a prayer privately becuase even though it is elective, it is still very serious and painful surgery."

I chimed in with my own example, "Yes, just look at what happened to Kanye West's mother."

Blank stares.

I continued, "She went in for a tummy tuck and died on the operating table."

Finally one lady asked, "Kanye who?"

"Who is she talking about," was the growing din around the table.

"He's a rapper from Chicago," I offered. More blank stares.

Finally I noted, "His mother has been on Oprah."

"Ohhhhhh. Ok!" rang the sudden recognition amongst the ladies at the table.

As Greg brady would have stated, "I think we have a generation gap going here."