Back into the kitchen

two days ago.. to make lentil soup. :) mmmm...

So it's summer, so it's *soup* in the summer, so what? I'm the cook right now, and I can make what I want, when I want. :P And I wanted soup. So there.

I was surprised how fast lentils cook! I thought they'd take forever, like pinto beans do. Nope! They just plumped right up in about half an hour. I made a double batch and had to improvise a little when I didn't have enough tomato sauce. So... tomato paste is about the same thing, right? Just add some extra water, right? And the beef broth I used was a concentrate, which the recipe didn't call for, but it's the same stuff, right? Just some extra water, right?

A *lot* of extra water.

But mmm.. throw in some extra cut up bratwurst that I had grilled for my lunch.. nice. Real nice. Fresh beans from the market, and.. a healthy & hearty dinner. And the rest of the soup.. in the freezer! :)

I was a little nervous about the onion-chopping part. But I didn't tear up for those any more than I do for no good reason at all, so.. I guess I can handle a little onion. ;) Easier to handle than the rest of my life. :)

Yesterday, some marinated chicken breasts (lemon and garlic), grill them out with sweet corn, some early season baby watermelon.. mmm, yeah. Today, fish (it's Friday), with lemony snowpeas. :)

And back to onion-chopping Saturday, too. Lots of onions. Plus carrot chopping, celery chopping, mushroom chopping, thyme and parsley chopping, etc. I'm going to try my hand at making some vegetarian soup stock from a mediterranean cookbook I laid my hands on recently. Most will go into the freezer for future use in other soup recipes from the book. There's a Moroccan carrot soup recipe in there that sounds just oooh, de-lish. Then there's Sicilian barley, tomato fennel, minestrone, lentil & escarole.. I could go on and on.

But soon, I hope, I'll have to go back to work and to school and let cooking become a newfound hobby instead of a quasi-occupation several days a week. It sure has been fun! Beats grading papers any day. :( Which I have to get to today, too. Grades are due from my just-ended Monday class.

Wish I could get some resolution on the job front. Talked to the small company in Southern WI yesterday. They have been interviewing others, and are at the point now where they will decide what to do. The HR guy is supposed to call today..

Then I had my arm twisted last night on the phone by the hiring manager from KC on the telecommuter job. He wants pretty badly to make it a job in KC - needs a successor. Offered an extra $15K and a better bonus, more vacation, full relo program. He was very disappointed when I said that money and position isn't the issue at this point (couldn't believe my own ears! Is that me talking?) - what matters is making a solid contribution, enjoying what I'm doing, and having my family affairs in a good place. To me the telecommuting job does that. He was disappointed.. and who knows? I may have lost the telecommuter offer, too. :(

Until these things resolve, I wait. And cook.

At least it's been cool enough to start running in the morning again, so I can run off all of this stuff I'm cooking! One mile loop yesterday and today. I could tell it's been a while. Oof. :(