Stone Soup...

For better or worse, we live in a world that is saturated with advertising. As a result, whenever I think about winter, and winter foods specifically, I cannot help but think about that iconic Campbell's soup ad from 1998, when a snowman comes out of the cold, sits down to a steaming hot bowl of Campbell's, and melts to reveal a young boy trapped inside. It encapsulates everything about why we eat soup during cold weather.

Still, we've been eating rather less soup than usual this year, probably because the warmer-than-usual temps this winter have pushed thoughts of comfort food to the back of my mind this season. However, I found myself in need of a way to dispose of some leftover parsnips that have been kicking around my crisper drawer ever since I made an ill-fated (and non-blog-worthy) attempt at making a Hungarian-style chicken and dumpling soup sometime last year. (Root vegetables stay good a long time, y'all!) Even though I don't really care much for parsnips, I hated the idea of tossing them after only using a couple, so I went hunting around in search of another recipe that could help  me use them up.

As it turned out, I didn't have to go far; I already had a recipe in my "maximum freezer content utilitzation plan" for lentil soup that happened to call for parsnips. The soup recipe had made it on my list because it also called for Italian sausage, and we discovered several random links tucked into different corners of the freezer that were leftovers from various recipes that only called for four links of sausage, rather than a whole package. As if those two features weren't enough to recommend it, the recipe also called for spinach, which we needed to buy anyway for one of Justin's favorite curry dishes that he was planning on making to take for lunch this week. All the pieces were falling into place nicely.

Besides, I had been looking for a new lentil soup recipe for a while now. I only started eating lentils after college, and I've added a few recipes employing the healthy, protein-rich pulses to my repertoire, but I wasn't really satisfied with the lentil soup recipe I had inherited from my mom, who had originally found it in an old issue of Early American Life magazine. It was good, but it called for red wine, of which I am not a huge fan. How many other people can say that they don't know what to do with the wine that is leftover from cooking? I never wanted to drink the rest on its own, so I had beeb looking for a recipe that could stand on its own without the addition of booze for years.

I think I have finally found my go-to lentil soup recipe at long last. I liked the spicy kick from the sausage, the sweetness of the vegetables (though the parsnips were a little strong, to be honest), and the extra feeling of doing something good for myself with the spinach. I know, I know, if I left out the sausage, it would be even healthier, but I really enjoyed the meaty texture and flavor with all the other ingredients. I'm just not ready to go vegetarian yet!

Plus, this recipe yielded a ton of soup; in fact, it just barely fit in the large pot we were using. We will be set for lunches for the rest of the week, so if you are ready for a hearty, warming and delicious bowl of soup and you want to minimize the amount of time you'll spend in the kitchen this week, I definitely recommend you give this lentil soup a try.

Lentil Soup with Spicy Italian Sausage

adapted from Bon Appétit

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage, casings removed

1 large onion, chopped

2 large carrots

2 large parsnips

2 large celery stalks

2 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning

1 lb. brown lentils

3 quarts chicken stock

1 5 oz. package of baby spinach leaves

Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until browned, stirring occasionally. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to bowl. Add onion, carrots, parsnips, celery, and Italian seasoning blend to drippings in pot; cook until onion is translucent and vegetables begin to soften, stirring often, 7 to 8 minutes. Add lentils; stir to coat. Add 3 quarts broth. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer until lentils are tender, stirring occasionally and adding more broth by 1/4 cupfuls if soup is too thick, 20 minutes.

Add sausage to soup and simmer until vegetables are tender and flavors blend, 10 to 12 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes.

Les Miserables...

Though I have sworn off of writing any more movie reviews here at "The State I Am In," because my heart just isn't in it any more, I would be remiss if I did not share my thoughts on seeing Les Miserables today. I have been waiting with bated breath for the release of this film, basically ever since the last film version came out in 1998 and wasn't a musical. That's 15 years, people! To say that I was excited to finally see my favorite musical realized on film is something of an understatement.

Really, I was so predisposed to enjoy this film that it could have been terrible and I still would have liked it, but thankfully, it wasn't terrible. To be sure, there were some things that didn't work, in my opinion. Of these, Russell Crowe being cast as Javert was probably the most glaring; he just did not have the vocal chops for the role. "Stars," Javert's biggest number, is one of my favorite songs in the entire show, and Crowe's lackluster version was a major disappointment. 

Though Colm Wilkinson will always be the Valjean as far as I'm concerned (and my inner fan girl was psyched to see him in a cameo role as the Bishop of Digne, with a bonus appearance at the end, when he appears to lead a dying Valjean to heaven), Hugh Jackman handled the role with apolmb. Jackman has serious Broadway experience under his belt, and it shows, not only vocally, but through his ability to emote with an intensity usually reserved for the stage.

I was a little concerned about Anne Hathaway's unconventional, more vulnerable interpretation of Fantine, but I ended up liking her portrayal more than I would have expected. I even enjoyed Amanda Seyfried as the adult Cosette. I have never liked her in any film I've seen her in, and I find her generally annoying, but wide-eyed look gives her an aura of innocence that was right for the role. On the other hand, I did not care for Eddie Redmayne as Marius; in no universe is he the kind of man you would see across a crowded street and fall in love with at first sight. The role of Marius should have gone to Aaron Tveit instead, who was cast as Enjolas. Not only was he easy on the eyes, he has serious singing talent as well: he played Gabriel in the original Broadway cast of Next to Normal. 

Casting and performances aside, there were only two other real flaws with the film as far as I was concerned. First, I found the director's constant use of tight close-ups to be very distracting. I get that we wanted to capture the actors emotions in a way that isn't possible with the distance naturally created between the stage and the audience in live theater, but he went too far in the opposite direction, and it made me uncomfortable. As an American, I value my personal space.

Secondly, the director made numerous small changes to the lyrics, removing words that aren't common to American English (Herbert Kretzmer, who translated the lyrics from French for the musical, was South African), and clarifying relevant points of French history for an American audience that is most likely ignorant of 19th century European politics. The average viewer probably wouldn't have picked up on these subtle alterations, but I have listened to the original soundtrack hundreds upon hundreds of times in my life, and to me, they stuck out like a sore thumb. I didn't like that they dumbed down the lyrics, and to me, the changes were a huge distraction.

Even with those two problems, I still enjoyed the movie. I still cried my eyes out when Valjean died at the end, because the film still took me on an emotional journey with the characters. It may not have been perfect, but I would definitely watch it again if I were jonesing for a Les Miserables fix. I will definitely be buying a copy of my own when it comes out on Blu-ray, and I am happy that the film has enjoyed so much success both in terms of box office receipts and awards. Hopefully, the success of Les Miz will inspire film makers to tackle some of my other favorite musicals. Miss Saigon, anyone?

In Too Deep...

Recently, Justin came to me and complained that he never gets to cook any more. With my ambitious plan to try new recipes in 2012, and the fact that I enjoy cooking as a hobby, he felt as if he was not getting the opportunities he would like to experiment in the kitchen in his own right. After all, he used to cook all the time for his family before he met me.

And, to be honest, the process of trying a hundred new recipes last year was leaving me feeling pretty burned out when it came to cooking. I needed a break, and I was all too happy to hand over the reigns. At the top of his list was deep dish pizza; it has long been one of his favorite dishes to prepare, in fact, I even gave him a special deep dish pizza pan for our six-month anniversary. That we had not yet used it even once after nearly a year of living together was a further motivating factor for him. His inaugural deep dish pizza in our own home was truly long overdue.

My only request was that he find a new crust recipe, because his old one was a concoction of his own devising, in which he had substituted whole wheat flour for whatever it had originally called for, and the flavor and texture weren't really working for me - it was just too hard and crunchy. He agreed to try a recipe from our Baking Illustrated book from America's Test Kitchen, since I've had pretty good luck with their pizza crust recipes in the past. Unusually, this recipe called for the addition of cooked potato, with the idea that it would create a softer dough by decreasing the amount of gluten by reducing the amount of flour, and that sounded like a plus to me.

Unfortunately, the potato-based dough took things a little too far in the softness department. The dough didn't brown well in our pan, and while the cheese was melted and the toppings were cooked, the crust was anemic and soggy upon eating. The rest of the pizza was good, but the crust just wasn't what I was hoping for. Clearly, we're going to have to keep looking for a dough that will live up to the standards set by some of our favorite deep-dish places from around town.

However, I must say that it was very nice to be able to kick back and not have to worry about dinner in the slightest. It was great to let Justin do all the work, and if he wants to do more of the cooking around here, I'm more than happy to make that happen. I could get used to this!

Food Hoarders: Frozen Alive...

I will never forget our Fourth of July party last year. It was a housewarming party of sorts, so it was the first time most of our friends had seen our new home, and it was also a potluck. My friend, Jess, was in charge of bringing a dessert, and when she showed up on that brutally hot day with ice cream sandwiches in tow, I should have been elated -- after all, they are my favorite ice cream novelty. However, I was horrified, and more than a little embarrassed, as she went to stash them in the freezer and found it practically packed to the gills with food. A piece of paper would barely fit in there, much less a couple boxes of ice cream sandwiches. Luckily, we were able to move things around enough to find a spot for them, but the look on Jess' face when she saw how over-stuffed our freezer was has always stuck with me.

Last month, I did make a valiant effort to clear out some of the backlog in order to have the space to store cookie dough for the Cookie Bonanza, but once the cookies were baked, that extra space was quickly put to use to store more food. When I opened the freezer this week and saw the sorry state it had once again achieved, I knew it was time to take action. Even if it wasn't an official New Year's resolution for this year, it was clear that cleaning out our freezer needed to be my first big project of 2013.

I knew the first step needed to be a comprehensive inventory, because the situation had gotten out of control to the point that I had no idea what was even in there anymore. I enlisted Justin's help, and as he diligently pulled every item out of the freezer, I recorded it all on my iPad. There were items that I scarcely remembered, duplicate items that I bought because I didn't realize I already had them, and scarily, even a few things that preceded our move almost a year ago that had come from my old freezer. Clearly this was a project that was overdue.

Looking at all the food I had to work with, I created an extensive meal plan designed to employ at least one ingredient from the freezer in each dish, while trying to select recipes for consecutive that employed common ingredients to cut down on what I would need to buy from the store. Hopefully, if I can reign in my impulse cooking and can stick to this plan, I'll be able to not only make some space in my freezer, but save some money on groceries for the next month or so as well...

A Religious Experience - Part Twelve

In my last installment of "A Religious Experience," I pondered what would become of the beautiful chapel at the St. Scholastica convent if all of the nuns there eventually passed away from old age and the institution were forced to close its doors. As it turned out, I got an answer, of sorts, at the next stop on our Open House Chicago itinerary: Agudas Achim. I had been wanting to include a synagogue, or really any non-Christian house of worship, in my project since its inception, but it turns out that synagogues are even harder to gain access to than churches.

Since they often don't hold regular services in their main sanctuary, reserving them instead for high holiday services when they are so crowded that they sell tickets to guarantee seats, it is difficult to get in to see the sanctuary unless you are attending a wedding or bar/bat mitzvah. When I saw a couple of synagogues listed on the Open House website, I knew I had to work them into our plans, and since Agudas Achim was the closest to our house, we went there first.

Agudas Achim
5029 North Kenmore Avenue
Chicago, IL

The Agudas Achim congregation was formed in 1884 on Chicago's west side. As the neighborhood changed and many of Agudas Achim's members moved to Uptown, a then-upscale community which was attracting newly affluent Jews, the congregation moved as well. In 1922, the wealthy congregants built a spectacularly elaborate synagogue capable of seating 2,000 worshipers. 

Mosaic tiles were imported from Italy for the ark, which houses the Torah, or Hebrew holy texts, and the walls were flanked with rows of stained glass windows. A soaring, cathedral-style ceiling capped off the sanctuary, underneath which rows and rows of seats radiated out from the arch, each engraved with the name of its owner. It was a majestic, timeless space, designed to house a thriving congregation for decades to come.

However, about twenty years later, in the 1940s, the neighborhood started to change again. Jews started leaving the city for new neighborhoods in Skokie and Highland Park, on the North Shore. Gradually, Aguda's Achim's congregation dwindled to a couple hundred elderly members. Though they continued to convene for worship in another part of the building, there was no money to maintain the sanctuary. As the neighborhood declined even further, drug addicts would break the stained glass windows and sneak into the sanctuary to get high, or to steal whatever they could to sell in order to support their habits.

Years of further neglect led to holes in the roof, the floor peeled up, and the interior began to crumble. Miraculously, only the ark seemed to remain in relatively good repair. A glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon in the 1990s, when the descendent of one of the former congregants became interested in the building, and took over its leadership. With his youthful energy, a new rabbi was brought on board, and young Jewish college students were enlisted to help renovate the building.

This stained glass was added during the late 1990s; today it is shattered.

Still, the elderly congregation continued to die off. Even though gentrification is finally coming to Uptown, improving the neighborhood and driving out the drug dealers and addicts, it has not brought with it a new wave of members for Agudas Achim. Recently, the rabbi and the president of the congregation were forced to throw in the towel, and put the building on the market. According to the real estate listing, they hope they will be able to find a buyer for the space that intends to use it for a religious use, but they note that the space could also be converted into condominiums -- it's a tragedy.

Today, the space retains traces of its former grandeur, but it is also dirty and and decaying. Frankly, looking up at the holes in the ceiling and the pigeon droppings on the floor, I was a little concerned that Open House was opening the space to the public. I felt unsafe being there, and though I wanted to appreciate the remaining beauty of the sanctuary, I also really wanted to get out of there and into some fresh air.

Agudas Achim is an example of what happens when magnificent religious spaces fall into disrepair and neglect. Without a vibrant community and a reason for being, even a fabulous building can't be saved. I hate the thought of a developer coming along and gutting the building to turn it into condos, or even worse, tear it down altogether and start over. I can only hope that another religious group will come along with the resources to restore Agudas Achim and allow it to live on as a house of worship, as it was meant to be.

All of the Lights...

Technically, the holiday season may have officially ended yesterday, but there was still one thing left on my to-do list that I still needed to accomplish -- going to see the Zoo Lights. Justin and I first went to see the free light display at the Lincoln Park Zoo two years ago, and I had hoped to turn it into a seasonal tradition for just the two of us, until we got preoccupied with our move last year and never made it. Even though its usually freezing outside, I find it very romantic to walk hand-in-hand, taking in the festive colored lights, so I was determined to take another stab at turning it into a tradition this year. Though we didn't make it before Christmas, Zoo Lights usually stays open for about a week after New Year's, so we were still in luck.

Since the zoo is about an hour away by bus, and not located especially close to any train stations, we decided to drive, which was a fateful error in judgement. Though admission to Zoo Lights is free, the zoo has to make money on it somehow, and they do this by charging an arm and a leg for parking. We were unable to find street parking in Lincoln Park, so we had to use the lot, and Justin was outraged by the hefty rate of $20 if you parked your car for more than 30 minutes. As a result, he demanded that we finish our entire Zoo Lights tour in enough time to make it back to the car and out of the lot in under 30 minutes.

We hustled through the whole thing, seldom pausing to admire the sights longer than the few moments needed to snap a photo. The only time we really stood still was when we tried to get a photo of ourselves using my handy portable tripod. Even though it was cold outside, I would have liked to have taken more time to take in the lights, and perhaps watch the ice carving demonstration that was taking place. All too soon, it was time to leave.

Even though we rushed through the zoo and hurried back to our car, we got caught in a long procession of vehicles that were leaving at the same time, and were still in the exit line when our thirty minutes was up. Not only did we rush our visit unnecessarily, we still ended up having to pay $20 for the privilege. The experience left a bad taste in Justin's mouth, and I'm not sure I'll be able to persuade him to return.

Sadly, it looks like I'm going to have to give up on making Zoo Lights a tradition for us, unless we can magically figure out a good way to get there via public transportation, or unless we befriend someone who lives in the neighborhood and has an extra parking space. Much as I would like to say, "There's always next year," this time, at least, I fear that probably won't be the case...

Resolved...

Generally speaking, I try to be realistic in my goal-setting. I try not to set the bar too high, because I know that it is better to set goals that can be achieved, rather than intimidate myself out of trying by setting out to accomplish too much. Hence, my New Year's resolutions always tend to be a little boring. Back in 2007, I resolved to floss my teeth every day, and I have managed to maintain that lifestyle change steadily for the past six years. Last year, I resolved to cook more at home, and over 100 new recipes later, I believe I have accomplished that goal and then some!

This year, I'm sticking to a modest set of goals once more:

1. Bake more cookies - I realize this resolution is a little unorthodox. After all, most people resolve to eat healthier and lose weight around this time of year. Meanwhile, I'm looking to increase my output of caloric treats. Here's my rationale: last year, I baked more cakes and made more ice cream than cookies, and when it came time for my yearly Cookie Bonanza, I found that I hadn't tested nearly enough recipes. This year, I plan on getting back into the groove when it comes to cookie baking, so that I will be able to return to my usual lofty standards when it comes time to bake in December.
2. Master Grandma Betsy's caramel recipe - Every year at Christmas, Grandma Betsy makes homemade caramels that are absolutely to die for. They are one of my favorite things about Christmas with the Wyatt family, and they are a taste memory that I will forever associate with my grandma. For the past several years, Grandma has threatened that each additional year will be her last making them, as they are labor-intensive and her health is ever-deteriorating. A couple years ago, she gave me the recipe, along with a list of pointers, in hopes that I would take up the mantle. I genuinely want to preserve this tradition for future generations, but I've also been scared. All I've heard my entire life is how challenging this recipe is, and I've never worked up the nerve to give it a try. Last year, I dipped my toe in the waters of candy-making and emerged unscathed, so I think 2013 is going to be the year for me to put on my big girl panties and master this recipe while Grandma is still around to give me further advice if I need it. Culinarily speaking, there's nothing more tragic than a family recipe that is allowed to die off with its maker, and I refuse to let that happen.
3. Get out more -  Back when I started this blog in 2009, I did so largely to give myself a reason to get out of the house and experience more of what Chicago had to offer. I knew that I couldn't sit on my couch all the time and expect to have anything interesting to write about, so I forced myself to go to more museums, see more sights, and see more theater and movies. Up until we moved in January of last year, I had been pretty good at adhering to that mission, but newly house poor and living far away from downtown has meant that Justin and I have gotten kind of boring in the last year. Though I'll probably never get out and about the way I used to when I was living in the heart of the city and had no house payments, I'd like to try to do better in 2013.

These are resolutions that I firmly believe I can adhere to in the year to come, so stay tuned for updates on my progress...