soup

It is April, isn't it? It is spring, isn't it? This gloom and cold is not wanted, thank you.

I came across a great soup recipe that works for this kind of weather - warming, but with light ingredients.

Brown Rice Soup with Asparagus

1 cup brown rice
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
1 bunch asparagus, chopped, tough ends taken off
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 celery stalks, chopped fine (about 2⁄3 cup)
1⁄2 onion, chopped fine (about 1⁄3 cup)
1 small carrot, chopped fine (about 1⁄3 cup)
1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
6 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
2 tablespoons minced scallions or green onions
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
Optional: cubed tofu or chicken
Put all ingredients into large saucepan and simmer until vegetables are cooked through but still crunchy and all ingredients are warmed.


My lunch date went all right. Oddly, we kept running into his friends from TAI SOPHIA. Awkward is probably the best word for the afternoon. Lots of long, uncomfortable silences. It was tough sometimes to get him to talk. And I'm a quiet person to begin with, so that's saying something. I reverted to my journalism instincts and started asking him questions about himself. Once I got him going on a subject, it was better. He said reading and writing were "foreign" to him, and I didn't get the impression he was much interested in me. He's far more intelligent than I am, so that was also intimidating. Sigh. Oh well, chalk it up to experience.

My first writing assignment for the fiction workshop is to describe my writing space, such as it is.

And here's Christopher Eccleston enjoying a shower. If that's not enough for you, here he is again staring at you with some lovely music in the background. Don't worry, he'll smile at you in the end.