Rain, Fog ... it's time for soup ...

It might turn out to be a soup week ... that said, it has stopped raining and I do believe my eyes do not deceive me when I see blue skies and a hint of sunshine.

This is a fast (ingredient-wise) soup made from scratch:

1 cup shredded carrots
1 large onion - chopped
Olive oil (naturally....)
6 cups of H tooooooooooooo O (water)
1 (16 oz) jar of salsa
1 1/4 cup dried lentils
3/4 teaspoon salt
Fresh spinach, torn

Saute the carrots and onions in olive oil until tender (you will need a large sauce pan w/ lid)
Add water, lentils, salsa and the salt
Bring to boil
Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender (because I am at a nose bleed altitude, I have quickly - slowly - learned that it takes longer than whatever the recipes call for).. so about 45-60 minutes.

Perfect excuse to unwind, grab a glass of wine, read a book -

I am reading "The New Girls" ... I found it in a mixed cadre of items (this is what happens when you finally go through things you've collected over years and years).. about a group of girls from Ms Pratt's boarding school and their return many years later as Antiques for their reunion.  It's not rocket science or earth-shattering but the wit and satire is quite to my liking (don't you love when how you speak or write starts soudning like whatever influence is right there in your life at that point in time....)

Okay - back to the recipe:

After the 45-60 minutes / lentil tender / drink wine / read book and check the weather report to see if tomorrow will be sunny and warm....   add the torn (fresh) spinach to the soup and simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes (or when the spinach is wilted... wilted - not mushy.  Big diff!)

Oh - and I just noticed - that is for 6 persons ... guess what I'll be having for lunch this week.  I thought it looked like an awful lot... in any event....

One of the best kitchen utensils EVER - dish-washer, plastic heat mitts (or whatever they are called).  Gets dirty - throw it in the dishwasher.  Although it does limit the number of items for my laundry obsession... but you get over it when you see how amaze-balls these things are.

The wine pairing this evening will be Kim Crawford's Sav Blanc.

I'm into my first glass of wine ... and here is how the soup is simmering up so far:

Okay gentle reader ... I must get back to Ms Pratt's girls ... and see what the next scandal could possibly be.  Had I gone to boarding school?  I would have been kicked out in the first week.  There is no question.