What a glorious day it is to be alive!! I spent all of Monday night (sleepless) and Tuesday (morning and early afternoon) hugging the toilet for dear life, after some virus or stomach bug took ahold of my body and wouldn’t let go! I’m never sick so I don’t handle being sick very well. I end up crying and praying to God to please make it stop, all while Andy rubs my back and keeps my hair out of my face. What a good hub. I may just have to pick him up some of his favorite beer tonight as a way of saying thanks!

Of course being sick is not fun but when you have Season Three, Disc One of Downton Abbey, then it’s just not that bad. It’s the dawn of the 1920s and after a long waited engagement, Mary and Matthew Crawley finally get married and then there’s this mishap with Edith and money troubles for Lord Grantham and the arrival of Lady Grantham’s crazy mother… all while Mr. Bates is still in jail… oh my! If you haven’t seen this PBS original yet, what are you waiting for?? I think I got my parents hooked on it too. My Ma loved it so much that she got my step-dad Gary into it as well. I mean, who can resist the Crawley’s?? It was a joyous four hours and I didn’t leave the couch once and neither did Cord or Sug who decided to make it a sick day too! My animals know me too well.

My cuddle bugs.

I also did a little reading last night before heading off to bed at seven o’clock (I got a whole 13 hours of sleep last night!) My book club is reading Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple and it is hilarious! I cannot stop laughing out loud as I flip the pages! All of you out there who can attest to having a crazy, outgoing mom, (and I mean this in a good way because my Ma gave me the “funnest” childhood ever) haven’t seen nothing yet… Bernadette Fox is truly one-of-a-kind! Read it and you can come to my next book club that meets Saturday, December 7 at 3 p.m.

Do judge this book by its cover! It’s just as funny!

Oh! I have the greatest yoga students and friends but ya’ll already knew that! Lynn dropped me off some gigantic bottles of Gatorade and Saltine’s while Elizabeth made me some delicious lentil soup that I couldn’t replicate if I wanted to, it’s that original and good. It’s amazing how generous people can be! I just devoured all of the soup she brought me, it having been my first meal since Monday at 7 p.m. when ‘It Who Shall Not Be Named’ took over my body! Her soup was so flavorful and the lentils were so soft, I just had to make my own so I could come home to more of said deliciousness tonight!

Thank you Elizabeth!!

When traveling in India, I ate a lot of lentil soup. Mostly everything cooked in India has curry powder or paste in it and I’m not huge on it anymore… can you say curry overkill?! So I made this soup with Pimenton instead, a spiced paprika popular in Spain. This will take you less than 10 minutes to prepare and one hour to cook and you can double or triple the batch if you want to have bulk and freeze some. It’s starting to get chilly here on the Central Coast and this makes for the perfect dinner with a sliced baguette!

Spiced Vegetable Lentil Soup- makes 6 quarts 

Ingredients:

– 1 lb. green lentils

-8 celery stalks

-4 large carrots

-4 cloves of garlic

-4 Roma tomatoes

-1 red onion

-1 small can of diced green chilis

-3 cups of chicken broth

-4 cups of water (or more if needed… enough to cover the veggies)

-1 bay leaf

-salt and pepper

-1 tsp Pimenton or paprika

Directions:

1. Chop up all of the vegetables and throw them into a large pot. I used a 6 quart pot.

2. Add the lentils, chicken broth, water and spices and cover.

3. Bring the soup to a boil and stir occasionally.

4. Put the soup on low to simmer for one hour or until the lentils are soft and tender to taste.

5. Store in cute Mason jars to give away as gifts to your friends who are sick!! Enjoy!

xoxo
The Yummy Yogini

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So, on a side note, I made lentil soup today for another reason too. When I was growing up, I had a good friend named Joyce Shanley, who was more than 60 years my senior and she loved making lentil soup! Today is the 12th anniversary of her death. Joyce was like a third grandma to me, no I take that back; she was more like a second mother to me. She had more wisdom in the tip of her pinky finger than anyone I have met to date and her smile and sense of humor were contagious. Joyce was there for me during high-school and all of its horrible moments, she was my Confirmation sponsor and we have the same Confirmation name (Francis), she’s responsible for my obsession with Christmas and Advent calendars and broaches, she got me hooked on big print type before I knew my eyes were really that bad, and she loved me just as much as any of her grandchildren, and told me so often.

Before I could drive, I would accompany her on the RIPTA (Rhode Island Public Transit Authority) bus to the Warwick Mall where we would shop at Filene’s and have pizza at Sbarro later on. When I got my license and first car, we would go everywhere together! Our outings expanded from the mall to Holiday church concerts, lunch at the Inn at the Crossings and afternoon drives to Providence. She had an infectious spirit and was so full of life and I think about her almost everyday. I miss you Joyce, and your memory, and your yummy lentil soup, will always live on!

Joyce never had a frown on!

Joyce and I at my Confirmation. This was before I knew that straight irons and products existed!