Attempt at Healthy Eating Part 2: Slurping your Vitamins

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a boiled vegetable must be in want of vitamins.

I know, sad but true. When vegetables are boiled a lot of their nutrients stay and in the water and when that is drained, the nutrients go too.

Thankfully someone long ago had a wonderful brain wave and invented soup. So now we can also eat nutritious water. Here is my recipe for "Clean out the fridge soup."

3 stalks of celery, diced
half an eggplant, diced
zucchini, diced,
yellow crookneck squash, diced
1 med. white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
5 strips of bacon, diced
1 chipotle pepper, diced
2 bay leaves
28 oz. chicken stock
1 tbsp. herbes de provance
1 can northern white beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes or fresh (optional)

1. Put all veggies in a bowl and add a little sugar and about 1 tsp of salt. This draws out water and makes them soft.
2. Meanwhile cook the bacon in a heavy-bottom skillet or pot until nice and crispy and the fat is rendered. Add onions, herbe de provance, bay leavess, chipotle and garlic. Cook until onions are limp and the whole thing is fragrant.
3. Add veggies and sautee for a bit. Then add chicken stock and if needed more water.
Boil for a little then add tomoatoes and beans. Simmer covered for about 20 min.

Voila!

This is a great cool-weather-fall-supper-thing. Serve with crusty bread and pretend you're in a green misty European village.

September 11, 2001

I love being Mexican, it runs in my blood and I am proud of my heritage. However, I am also very much American. The US has adopted me and I it, and I like it, it's cozy here.

For that very reason today is a hard day. When I get to work I usually listen to NPR but I just couldn't make myself choose to hear the stories about 9/11. It's still hard to think about that day and the aftermath. It's hard to think about what the people on the plane were feeling, what they said to their families on those phone calls. It's hard to think about thousands lost. Fire fighters and policemen and women that answered the call with no thought of self. Friends and family (including ours) accross the country paralyzed with fear for our loved ones as we saw those towers fall.

The days to follow were also hard. A whole country confuzed about how this could happen and what we were supposed to do with our grief. Struggling to make sense of such atrocities. This was not the first horrific thing the world had seen, but it had certainly been a long time for the US.

But as with everything there is a silver lining. Courage sprang up where it had been laying dormant. The new battle cry of the republic became, "Let's roll," as said by a group of passengers that refused to let the plane they were on do any harm and diverted it to a Pennsylvania field. An outpouring of love and support for victims and families and renewed patriotism showed the terrorists that they had not succeded, America would simply rebuild. There was unification. After the tears dried, there was hope. Their plans had failed, America rallied together with chins up and flags waving high collectively saying, "Screw you terrorists."

Really?

Recently there has been an influx of people in TV shows saying, "Really?" In a sarcastic tone denoting, "I can't believe you really believe that." Here is my "Really?" moment of the week:

"The only thing keeping you from your dreams, is yourself," says the recent ITT Tech graduate about having a career in public administration.