I like lentil soup. It’s healthy, tasty, and it can be quite versatile. Himal Chuli, a Nepali restaurant in Madison, WI first introduced me to lentil-based soups with its dal. Such tastiness! I’d never imagined myself liking lentil soup before then, but it was fabulous. So, I set about trying to make my own once. Of course, my finished product is not really similar to Himal Chuli’s dal, but it’s tasty in its own right. This is my latest incarnation, but you can use whatever vegetables you’ve got lying around, and whatever spices you’re in the mood for; it seems quite forgiving. (If I can make it without having to follow an exact recipe – it must be!)

1. Take a bag of lentils (probably a pound – I didn’t check) and pour it into a large pot. You want to quickly sort through it and pick out any bad lentils or other things that don’t belong. Rinse them a couple of times, then cover them with water and boil them for 10 minutes. Warning, the lentils soak up a lot of water, so keep an eye on it and add more as needed. I didn’t add enough water to begin with, so be generous.
   
2. While they’re boiling, you can start chopping up some veggies for your soup. Here I used about 2/3 of an onion, chopped finely.
   
3. I also chose to add about half of a red pepper, also chopped finely.
   
4. After the lentils have boiled for 10 minutes, drain the water and put the lentils off to the side. (I put them in a separate container since I wanted to use the same pan for the next step, but you could use two pans here and leave the lentils where they are.)
   
5. Add a little bit of oil to the pan and cook your onions and peppers (or whichever vegetables you choose) for a couple of minutes.
   
6. Don’t forget to add some garlic at this stage! I think I used 3 cloves.
   
7. Once the onions are nicely cooked, add your lentils back to the pan (or add your onions to your lentil pan), and add some soup stock (I used 2 cans) and some water (about half a can). I used chicken since we had a lot of it, but you can make the soup vegan with a vegetable stock. Low sodium stock is useful so you can control the salt content of your final soup.
   
8. Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer.
   
9. At this point, I like adding a few more vegetables, so here I chopped up a yellow potato.
   
10. And some celery.
    
    I would also have liked to add some carrots, and perhaps some tomatoes, but we didn’t have either on hand. Ah well!
11. Spice time! This can be entirely up to you, but I used a fair bit of cumin, some curry powder, paprika, salt, some tumeric, and just enough cayenne to feel a little burn in the back of my throat. Taste this along the way; you’re making the soup for you, so you can make it however you’d like!
12. Let everything simmer together until your potatoes (and/or carrots) are as tender as you’d like them and some of the water has evaporated away – half an hour or so. Mash everything up just a little bit with a potato masher – it’s a thick soup.
13. Have some of your freshly made soup, and since it makes a fair bit, you can freeze some to eat later.
    
    (Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of the ready-to-eat version this time – guests came over just as it was finishing, so it got a little rushed.) It microwaves pretty well. Enjoy!

I know I have a number of photos of the day to catch up on, and a lot of blogging to do, but this is a start. Just after all my conferences, my friends Nese and David got married. I brought along my camera(s). This is what happened:

1. Our friend Dimitriy, newly ordained minister of the Universal Life Church, officiated the wedding.



2. The flower girl and ring bearer walked down the aisle. One was very carefully dropping flowers onto the path, and the other was wondering where her mother was.



3. They’re getting their rings now. It’s official!



4. “You may kiss the bride.”



5. The happy couple.



6. The first dance, of course.



7. The flower girl really wants a piece of that cake.



8. Nese and David cut the cake…



9. and give each other a taste.



10. Finally, the flower girl can have some too.



11. Nese dances with her father.



12. And then again with her husband.



13. Awww.

1. A newly-dead deer and the ribcage and varied other parts of a not-so-newly dead deer
2. An old schoolhouse
   
3. An old general store
   
4. A dog happily retrieving a red rubber ball from the river
5. An old grist mill and cider mill
   
6. A log cabin
   
7. Ann Arbor’s water treatment plant – (I smelled it, too)
8. Tiny little turtles sunbathing and two swans (even if I only show one)
   
9. Too many Canadian geese to keep track of
10. A fly-fisherman
11. Lots of regular fisherman, bikers, and people otherwise enjoying the weather, including these two guys on their little pontoon boat by the dam
    
12. Enough canoes and kayaks to realize that the livery is now open for the season
13. Too many hills for my legs to enjoy
    

We all have songs that we love and we won’t admit to. This week, I’ll share thirteen songs that I’ve “purchased” on iTunes. I have to use the quotes since I haven’t actually put any of my own money into iTunes, but through gift cards and some free credits and things, I’ve gotten a number of my guilty pleasure songs from iTunes. I hope you enjoy this, and if you see one you like too, you should come clean.

1. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) – US3: “Funky, funky!” I forget where I first heard this song, but I remember listening to it on some car ride with my uncle. He’s always so cool, and knows so much about music. I love this song.
2. Inside Out – Eve 6: High School Angst. I’m ashamed I know all the words. This is on my “Angry” playlist.
3. Take On Me – a-ha: How can you not love this song? Seriously. You know you sing along to it too when no one’s listening.
4. All I Want for Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey: I once bought a Mariah Carey CD, and a few years later, the used CD shop wouldn’t buy my copy – they already had too many. Still, I can’t help but love this song (and part of me is secretly glad I still have that CD). My friend in undergrad would sing this one, and I love the movie “Love Actually,” so this one is definitely a keeper.
5. Downtown – Petula Clark: In grade school, the big thing to do on a Friday night was to go to the Roller Rink, put on your roller skates and have a good time. This was a song they often played, and whenever she said “downtown” you had to crouch. Classic. They also played “The Sign” by Ace of Base a lot. I haven’t bought that song though. Yet.
6. Beware of the Boys (Mundian to Bach Ke) – Panjabi MC: Logan’s undergrad roomie played this song quite a lot, so it grew on us, and we had to get it a few years later (though it took us awhile to figure out what it was…)
7. It’s Raining Men – The Weather Girls: I sing along to this. Every time. Hallelujah.
8. U Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer: This song still makes me want to dance – even if I ocassionally slip into the lyrics of the Weird Al version, and I think about Family Guy when it’s time to do the bump. “That’s word because you know, you can’t touch this!”
9. Ievan Polkka (Ieva’s Polka) – Loituma: Yes, it’s that song with the spinning leek. I couldn’t help myself. It’s so catchy – even if I can’t understand any of it.
10. Informer – Snow: Yeah, the super-white reggae rapper from Toronto. I admit it. I still can’t sing along to the whole song though.
11. Autobahn – Kraftwerk: This was a song that Logan’s family played at the beginning of some of their longer road trips. We had to get it to, but it was awfully hard to pick which version to buy. There are tons!
12. Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations: We did this song in marching band once in high school. At one point in the routine, we got to sing and dance to a line or two. The french horn section (led by one of my best friends) made up a nice little routine to that line. Whenever we’re together (mostly just at weddings these days), we sing it at the top of our lungs and do the dance.
13. Whip It – Devo: Really, there’s nothing to say for this one. Just whip it. It’s not too late.

Wow, thirteen came and went really quickly. I could keep going. What are your guilty pleasure songs?

I love games. So this week, you get a list of games/sports from my life, past and present.

1. Sheepshead! In our family, Sheepshead is the quintessential game to play. At any family gathering, you’d better have some change to play with – for sheeps is serious business. It’s a rite of passage to finally be able to play at the table with the adults, and as a kid you always wanted to “help” the adults play.
2. Soccer (Football): Like many American kids, I played soccer when I was little. My dad coached our team for awhile, and I was usually goalie or at least a defender. While I enjoyed it, I didn’t stick with it, and the whole having to run thing wasn’t really something I liked, so I quit in middle school.
3. Softball: One season I joined a softball team. I wasn’t terribly good at it – played left field mostly. And again with the running!
4. Chess: In high school, I joined the chess team. This probably had something to do with a certain other person who was on the chess team, but I liked it. I only played on the JV team, and while I wasn’t bad, I certainly wasn’t great either. I really loved it when there were 6th graders from other schools beating me. Our high school chess coach was a great guy, and hubby and I picked up some of his speech mannerisms. Fair enough.
5. Tennis: I never played tennis in any official league or what not, but it was one of the sections in gym that I liked more than others, and I think I took lessons one summer, too. It takes a lot of practice for me to get a consistent overhead serve, but I enjoy it. These days, though, I’m more likely to play tennis on the Wii than on an actual court. I’m hoping to change that a bit this summer.
6. Red Rover: One of the best games played as a little kid. Seriously. I loved Red Rover, and I still do. I don’t remember the last time I played, though.
7. Trivial Pursuit: This is a game to be avoided in my family. My father can take us all on single-handedly.
8. Risk: A fun, albeit long, board game of world domination. I like having Australia (and/or South America) as my base of operations. Once, hubby’s brother spent quite some time rolling the dice over and over again to see if they were weighted incorrectly. ::sigh::
9. Poker: I’m not good at poker. However, in high school, our youth group would sometimes have poker parties where we played with M&Ms. Fun times, even if I was quite bad. I don’t bluff well.
10. Scrabble: Another major family game. My parents are both quite good, and the title of family champion goes back and forth between them every now and then. Sister and I can compete with them nowadays though, so it can be quite intense if we all get together for a family scrabble tourney. Games take a long time in my family though – Mother requires a lot of time. “I know there’s a seven-letter word in here somewhere!”
11. Solitaire: I love card games, and know and play many different versions of solitaire. Sometimes you just need a mindless card game to relax.
12. Four-Square: Another childhood favorite. Fun to play at camp or on the playground, and you can make up fun and interesting new rules. It’d take me awhile to get back into the swing of it, I think, but I have fond memories.
13. Inner Tube Water Polo: The newest one on the list, I just started a few weeks ago. It’s fun, and for those of us who aren’t in shape, still some good exercise. Our team went undefeated* in the regular season, and we have playoffs in the next week or so.

*Okay, so there were only three regular season games, one team flat out didn’t show up, and one game we were playing 7 (plus 2 subs) vs. 4, but still. Undefeated!

In keeping with my take on last week’s centered theme, I thought I’d share with you 13 yoga poses – some that I like, and some that I don’t. This is my first Thursday Thirteen. We’ll see whether I can actually come with 13 things to talk about each week, but we’ll give it a try for now.

1. Child’s Pose: This can be a good pose to get you into your yoga for the day. It’s a gentle stretch, low to the ground, and is a good place to start focusing on your breathing.
2. Chaturanga: Ah, push-up pose. I’ve never been terribly good at push-ups, and Chaturanga is made especially hard by forcing you to keep your elbows closer to body. It makes you work your triceps a lot more, and my triceps have never really been my strongest muscle group.
3. Crow: Every now and then, I’m asked to do a yoga pose where I have to balance entirely on my arms. Mainly, these involve me flailing around, occasionally getting into the pose for a few seconds. More often than not, however, I end up falling on the floor. With Crow, I can almost do the pose, but only when my elbows are bent.
4. Half-Moon: I like half-moon, but it’s surprisingly hard to keep my balance.
5. Cat
6. Cow: Cat and Cow go hand in hand. You inhale as you go into cow, opening your chest, dropping your belly, and as you exhale you move into cat – rounding the back and dropping the head. I like doing this sequence, and it’s a good warm up to your practice.
7. Triangle: I also like triangle. It’s not too technically difficult, but you can focus and really get a good stretch out of it. Plus, I think it looks cool.
8. Eagle: Seriously. This pose is crazy. It’s a remarkably good stretch through the shoulders and arms when I get the top half right, but my legs just can’t wrap around themselves all that well. Keeping your balance is hard!
9. Reverse Warrior: I always feel graceful in reverse warrior, although I have to be careful in any of the warrior poses to protect my knees.
10. Pigeon: I love pigeon. Anyone who has seen me knows that I don’t sit in normal positions, so pigeon is quite natural for me. You can do a forward bend from this pose, and I could just stay there for quite some time. Comfy.
11. Tree: Tree amuses me, and I’m not quite sure why. It’s a pose I don’t think I’ve ever really done during a yoga class, but it’s one I just like to do anyway.
12. Dead Bug’s Pose: The first time I heard of dead bug’s pose I had to laugh, but it really is a good description. Lie on your back, grab your toes and let your legs drop open. It’s a good pose as you’re finishing up – a relaxing stretch.
13. Savasana: The end of your yoga practice. Relaxation. Surrender. Good night. ::ashoo::