food, tango and travel...

it's wednesday morning, a little after 9:30, and i have already been to the grocery store, made a new soup and worked out! YESSSS!! this is the answer to peace. i'm serious. what was i thinking, getting up at 8 every morning? as my mother always says ~ "i'll sleep when i'm dead". geez, mom. there's a die hard morning person for you. well, i'm sold. by the time my students start arriving, i will have practiced, cleaned up my place, put on something cute, and probably piddled around, doing something fun and frivolous. sono contento!

this morning i am listening to a tango cd i just love, and thinking of my friend kacey, a tango specialist, y'all! how freakin' cool is that? she is truly a world traveler. i mean, i have probably been to more countries at this point than she has, but she has the true world traveler personality. she IS the eat, pray, love girl. i'm pretty sure she can stuff a shoulder bag with some eclectic, colorful clothes, a tube of toothpaste and some burt's bees chapstick, and go anywhere. this is something i want to say i am, but not so much. i will blame it on my high-maintenance mane of hair, but really. i'm not.

i do have a little bit of that in me, though, so since i'm grounded in kansas city until i can afford another extravagant trip to some foreign country, all i can do is cook exotic foods.

i have created TWO recipes! one last night, by total accident, and it is the best asian food i've ever made. and this morning, i found a recipe in a magazine, which was created FOR the eat, pray, love girl (elizabeth gilbert), who didn't get a chance to really learn much about the food in india. the recipe looked good, but i wanted something more savory, mixed with sweet, so i gave it a complete overhaul. i have no idea if it's good, because it's still chilling in my fridge! i'll let you know the verdict after lunch. :)

here is the asian noodles recipe. all healthy!
prepare some whole grain spaghetti noodles (broken in half ~ easier for chopstick use!)
in a skillet, add a touch of olive oil, chopped shrimp, green onions, carrots, one poblano pepper (so good!), garlic, grated ginger, whatever veggies and asian type stuff you have on hand! cook until the shrimp is almost done, then add a couple dollops of hoisin sauce and some soy sauce. add the pasta, a squirt of lime juice, and some chopped cilantro.
if you like peanut butter, add that. if you like sesame seeds, add those. anything goes, but don't forget the poblano pepper. it makes the dish taste like that spicy, peppery flavor you get at a chinese restaurant. yum!!!

here is what i'm calling the eat, pray, love soup...
Bring one can of chicken stock to a simmer and throw in the following veggies, or whatever you have in the fridge: Peas, carrots, celery, garlic, poblano or jalapeno pepper, green onions, and salt and pepper. Once they’re all in, move the pan off the heat.
In another bowl, add a honeydew melon, zest and juice of one lime, zest of one orange, mint and basil, some grated fresh ginger, a pinch of cardamom, a pinch of cinnamon, and two squirts of honey.
Add the stock and veggies to the bowl and refrigerate until chilled.
Food process the whole thing and add plain yogurt. salt and pepper to taste.

i'm going to have my soup today with garlic nan bread, grilled on my stove top. oh man, it's only 10:00. how am i going to wait two hours for that? gotta stop talking about food!!!!

added at 12:20pm ~ the soup is incredible! try it on a drab weekday, when you need a little perk.