not everyone likes fruit in soup

So....remember my hesitance about the Cuban Black Bean Soup? I never really went into detail, but I mentioned that the ingredients were a little off the wall. I also said that I had little doubt that I would love it, but at least a decent amount of doubt that Mister would. Well, it turns out the most tactful way Mister could find to describe the soup was, in fact, "weird." He ate it, God bless him, but I don't think I'll be able to get him to eat it again. I loved it, on the other hand, so we can just move that to the Wednesday file.

There will be no pictures, because they really didn't come out well and the soup really wasn't much to look at anyway, but here is a synopsis of our dinner experience:
The soup contains this bizarre mixture: hot sauce, black beans, coconut milk, and bananas. There are some other things, but those are the ones that make it weird. Specifically, the bananas are probably what lost Mister's vote (and won mine). I guess we can't all love fruit in soup. They added what can only be described as a buttery smell, which really confused me, even though I was the one who made the soup and therefore knew that there was not even Earth Balance in there, let alone butter. The immersion blender gave the coconut milk a bit of froth, as well as gently pulverizing just enough of the bananas, black beans, and peppers to thicken the broth a bit while still leaving chunks to satisfy Mister's desire to not feel like he could eat his dinner with a straw.

With that, we'll head right into Operation Gratitude Attitude.
1. I am grateful for the opportunity to play Christmas music at my piano for hours today, uninterrupted.

2. I am grateful for www.joshgroban.com and the opportunity to watch Josh sing one of the most powerful songs in musical theatre in the privacy of my own living room, so I could cry without shame.

3. I am grateful that facebook reunited me with a fellow JG-fan who told me that he played the part of Anatoly in a two-day performance of Chess, my favorite musical, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, directed my Tim Rice himself.

4. I am grateful that I still have one more day left before the insanity of the week starts.

if I didn't have bad luck...

...I wouldn't have any fun stories to tell! I am somewhat convinced that I am only wearing my apron because it says "bitch, bitch, bitch" on it and it's black. Tonight's adventures proved that it doesn't necessarily protect me from flying food the way an apron might protect someone else from flying food. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I know that one minute I was [not so gently] squeezing a quarter of a lime over the soup pot and the next minute I was trying to extract the lime pulp from where it had flown beneath my apron. I didn't even know there was enough space between my sweater and the apron, tied quite snugly around my body, but there was evidently just enough space for a chunk of lime to wedge itself in there and hang out around my belly.

All this fun ended with a delightful and surprising Roasted Yellow Pepper and Corn Bisque from Veganomicon. It didn't take the full amount of time estimated in the cookbook because I used pre-roasted yellow peppers. The soup actually only simmers for 20 minutes once all the yellowy goodness is piled in the pot and brought to boiling. Then the real fun begins - the part you really like if you like kitchen toys: I got to use my immersion blender. By the way, immersion blenders, much like conventional blenders, have different settings from "gentle stirring" to "deadly mutilation." Make sure to check where yours is set before you turn it on and splatter bisque all over your stove, counter, and self.

I served up this pretty yellow soup with what was left of the crusty bread from the farmers market. Good thing, too - it turns out nutmeg can be rather hot when added to soup in sufficient quantities. That surprised the heck out of me.

Also, there are only 12 days left to vote in my poll - I want your feedback! Please let me know someone is actually reading this and vote and/or leave me a comment!