Friday, April 13, 2012

Beans & Blondes


If you couldn't tell by the title, this soup has a story. One in which I will openly embarrass myself and then try to defend myself. If I tell you the name of the soup it will be a dead giveaway of my mistake, so I'll tell the story first.

On a Monday night after work and night class, one bleary-eyed Nicole decided to do an epic grocery shopping trip for this. After spending a good 45 minutes wandering around produce like a lost child, there was only one thing left on the list: beans. Red lentil beans. I know these are not red lentil beans--now. I took a lap around the store stopping in all the "authentic" areas and staring at cans and bags of beans waiting for the red lentils to suddenly jump out at me. Instead, I used my mind powers to turn a small bag of red beans into red lentil beans. I carried on as if they were lentil beans with a lingering sliver of doubt for a few days until I saw a picture of lentil beans and remembered, oh yeah, that's what lentil beans are supposed to look like. In my defense, the picture the recipe provides shows no beans. That's it--that's all I can really say to defend myself. That and that I do know how to read. Pinky promise. And for those of you with some cooking chops who are wondering: No, I did not soak the beans overnight; and no, they did not cook all the way through. Save your applause, folks.