My combination sickness (flu, pink eye, terrible cough) is gone, though I happened to pass some of it on to M., which means he is now sick. But he’s been a champ through it all, first taking care of me and doing all sorts of things like making me tea and drawing me baths and bringing me blankets, and now with still being relatively pleasant in spite of how terrible he feels (anyone who knows us knows that both of us tend to be super grumpy when sick).
So with this under the weather-ness, combined with the actual cold weather here in Berlin (it’s returning to single digits after a glorious week of warmer days), I am in full-on soup mode. Not only does it warm up the body, but it warms up the kitchen, making things a bit cozier overall. Our original plans were actually to see The Appleseed Cast tonight, something we have been hoping to do for months, but health is more important, so we are taking it easy.
I ended up making the French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme (page 141) because we had almost all the ingredients in the house by default already, and it sounded like just the right thing for a nice evening in. At the end, the taste was a little bit boring (perhaps because I used water in lieu of vegetable broth), but we added more salt and some apple cider vinegar at the end and it turned out great. And we didn’t have enough French lentils, so I just threw in some brown ones too (a cup of each) and it really doesn’t make a noticeable difference either way. This recipe is good on its own, but also works great as a base that can be added to or expanded upon with more veggies, according to what we have on hand.
Made: November 2, 2013