Spoiler Alert Thursday: Reminder

JMS is expounding on Mad Men elsewhere.

While I’m here, though, I thought I’d comment on something that has been bothering me: the music for the closing credits of West Wing, which is reminiscent of the kind of music that would be playing while cartoon mice were sewing a dress or something. I understand that when the episodes were airing, a commercial break would probably separate the last scene and the credits, but in the DVD format, it is almost never appropriate and is often jarring. For instance, we recently watched an episode that concluded with Josh turning off a TV because he couldn’t bear to look at the images of genocide any longer — and then: cue the cartoon mice! What gives, Snuffy?!

Wednesday Food: Lentil Vegetable Soup

My first foray into lentils!  This soup was inexpensive, made about 5 quarts which I later froze, and I’ll be damned if it’s not also healthy.  The only confusion I have now about lentils is the soaking process.  Many of the recipes I came across recommended soaking Puy lentils in boiling water for 15-20 minutes, yet the packaging the lentils came in required none.  If I’m making a soup out of them soaking shouldn’t be required, right?  And is the only outcome of soaking to soften or is there some healthful mutation that happens in the process?  If so should all varieties be soaked the same length of time?

In the end I did soak them; the soup was hearty, halfway between soup and stew.  The flavors were simple and straightforward, so I drank a simple and straightforward Guinness in accompaniment.  I’m banking on this freezing well as I now have about two gallons set aside.  Recipe follows…