After all that fun my body decided it was payback time, so I spent most of this week sick with some sort of flu- stomach cramps, body aches, a chest rash (?!). Soup was in order. But not just any soup- it had to be Halloween themed. I may be sick, but I still have my holiday dignity. After some searching I found this recipe. It called to me because I only had to buy yogurt and a lemon for it, two things I knew I could carry home without having to take a whimper break. I wish I'd read the comments on Epicurious first. Many of them suggest adding pumpkin to it, which sounds great. So if anyone does that, please let me know how it turns out.

I like this soup because it wasn't too carrot-y; it had a surprising balance of flavors for how little time and work it took. I highly recommend it. Also, I just used bought ground cumin and it tasted great so feel free to skip that step if you want.

Moroccan Carrot Soup 

Bon Appétit  | April 2010 

2 tablespoons butter 

1 cup chopped white onion

1 pound large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2 2/3 cups)
2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup plain yogurt, stirred to loosen

 Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes. Mix in carrots. Add broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Stir cumin seeds in small skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes; cool. Finely grind in spice mill.

Remove soup from heat. Puree in batches in blender until smooth. Return to same pan. Whisk in honey, lemon juice, and allspice. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle yogurt over; sprinkle generously with cumin.

my burrito is cooler than yours

Ok, so I can't really take credit for this one. Except for the chopping, that was totally all me. The picking out of ingredients, cooking, and assembly awards go to Matt. Here's what was in this beast- cheese, mushrooms, baby spinach, tomato, eggs, veggie Italian sausage.... maybe more, but that's all I can remember.

I have a cold. My brain is real fuzzy. Like it's hard to cross the street fuzzy. Space out and drool while you're brushing your teeth fuzzy. Mouth breathing fuzzy. The last one is the hardest. One of my favorite pastimes is mocking mouth breathers, and here I am one of them. A less fuzzy-thinking person may find a lesson in this.

using your noodle

I've been kind of sick lately. Not full-blown, but the achy, can't think about anything, sort of want to cry about it kind of sick. So, like any sane person, I've made it a priority to treat myself nice. Yesterday for lunch I warmed up left-over spaghetti noodles in a pan with butter and peas, then shredded a large amount of asiago cheese on top. I paired it with the Chicago Reader crossword (one of my all-time favorite things) and by the end I wanted to cry with joy instead of from whiny-ness.