while at whole foods yesterday i stocked up on spices. i love their bulk section, where you can buy a whole year's worth of curry powder for 53 cents.
the spice bounty inspired me to clean and organize my spice cabinet. i put all the spices into similarly-sized containers (the contents of all of the tiny squat plastic jars went into larger glass bottles), and wiped down the shelf. i grouped all of the spice blends together and then alpabetized everything else.
then, because i knew exactly what i had, i set about creating an amazing, spicy black bean soup. good god it was good. i followed the recipe almost to the letter, except i omitted the celery (which i hate), added a touch of cayenne (in addition to the hot sauce! zowee!) and i used my immersion blender at the very end to make the whole thing a little more creamy. i also served it with a dollop of fat-free sour cream.
yum-o, as rachel ray would say.
my adorable little niece is having eye surgery today to correct her strabismus. please send some loving thoughts her way. i endured three of these surgeries myself when i was a youngster...
i just registered for the race for the cure on june 10. i think pinky and knidiot are going to join me... would you like to, too? it's fun... and the more the merrier! (we are participating in the women's 5k, so if you're a guy i'm sorry to say you won't be able to walk with us.)
finally, here's a random link for the day: map gallery of religion in the united states. i find it mildly interesting that on the unitarian map, my county (and the one adjacent) really stand out. also, durham is apparently above-average in jewish population compared to the rest of north carolina.
oh, and here's another random reminder that i do this little radio show on thursday nights that you might enjoy: divaville.
Posted by xta at April 27, 2006 01:24 PM | TrackBackThanks for the link(s)...the religion one is really interesting. And I've only just recently discovered Rachel Ray and I went right out and bought her cookbook. She's awesome. I love how down to earth her recipes are.
Posted by: lainey at April 27, 2006 01:34 PMI notice that the counties where congregations are relatively active/large tend to be represented on the map. The Unitarians have four congregations in our area, three in these two counties alone, ergo: violet counties. What surprises me is the number of Western NC counties represented. And what is going on in Nebraska???
Of course, in the relative scale, that percentage is comparatively minute. Boston kicks butt, of course, but Durham is above average in lots of things. :)
Posted by: erthsister at April 27, 2006 03:21 PMSending lots of good vibes to your niece and her family! Since I am in Jerusalem, mine good thoughts work better....honest.
The religion map was tres interesting!
Posted by: John Boy at April 27, 2006 03:43 PMwalking!
and not very quickly, either! ;-)
you can sign up here:
http://www.komennctriangle.org/race_registration.php
The Race for the Cure is a very good time, and very inspiring, and you can get lots of free stuff afterward. I wish I could do it this year, but there's the matter of a certain high school graduation that I simply must attend that afternoon. I will, however, be there in spirit, briskly walking those 5 kilometers. Also, I don't get as sweaty when I do these things in spirit.
Hugs and good wishes to Roxi!
Posted by: minty at April 27, 2006 04:14 PMCool links!
Could I join you on the walk if maybe I dressed up like Garp in drag? Or maybe not...
Posted by: Phil at April 27, 2006 10:43 PMThanks for that map link ...I was actually surprised that Much of NC is light yellow or even white on the christian map. It seems so much more bible-belty than that.
Posted by: Lisa B at April 28, 2006 11:23 AMgood wishes to Roxi! eye surgery cannot be much fun for little ones - i trust it will go swiftly and well.
Posted by: pinky at April 28, 2006 01:51 PMroxi update, from her mom, lulu:
Hi everyone,
Roxi's surgery went well. "Textbook" was the word used by our surgeon. She's home and, aside from anesthesia groggies and some eye discomfort, is doing great. She and Rob are watching the Muppet Show as I type this.
We went in at 7 a.m. this morning. Her procedure started at 7:30 and ended about 9. We were home by 10:30. Bliss. Roxi's spent the last few hours re-acclimating, and it sure looks like she'll be back to her normal, peppy self in another few hours.
As for prognosis, we'll know how successful the surgery was in several weeks. We'll be going to several follow-up appointments, the first of which is Tuesday afternoon.
For now, we're plenty thrilled to be home.
I've found a bunch of links lately to the religious maps you found. I finally found the source (I think) at Valparaiso -- particularly this part. There's some good commentary about the maps at Harry's Place and at Regions of Mind.
Adherents.com also keeps lots of neat information, particularly this list.
Finally, I wouldn't know about any of these were it not for T.Rev, and particularly his posts Religion in America and Your Moment of Zen. The discussion there is good too.
Posted by: Joseph H. Vilas at April 29, 2006 10:30 AM