Time to brew another giant pot of tea and study for the GRE’s before heading to work. And all the while, I’ll be cooking up a delicious pot of spicy, garlicky bean soup. One of my favorites.
What’s that you say?
It’s foolish to try to study and cook at the same time?
Well, high-level multitasker though I am, I fully agree with you. My kitchen skills aren’t sharp enough yet to fix a meal while accomplishing some other significant job. (Unless the job is seduction; more on that later.)
Fortunately, vegetarian wunderkind Heidi Swanson (whose website, 101cookbooks.com, is a marvel and a blessing), has got your back at moments like these. When you’re sick and lazy and still got shit to do but want some comfort food to materialize before you, and not out of the freezer or a wrapper. Hence the recipe title: A Good Soup for the Sick.
Ailing? Have at it. Minimum effort, maximum reward. But what Swanson didn’t mention is that the dish also aids the love-stricken. Bean soup may not sound all that romantic, but this bean soup is special. Friends, I tell you I have wooed people with this bean soup. Once on a cold, bright morning before an ice skating outing. And I had cooked it overnight, while sleeping. (In retrospect, perhaps not the safest idea…but hey, no regrets.) And the other time, well, I was just getting to know this person, learned he was under the weather and brought him a batch of soup as a friendly gesture. When I got to his place, though, he was gone. To New York for the weekend. So I ate the soup myself. But even indirectly, the soup worked its charms. Now that’s some powerful stuff, wouldn’t you say?
Aliment. Aphrodisiac. What could be better? Oh right — if you leave out the cheese (which I do anyway) and substitute regular onions for shallots, or pinto beans for cranberry beans, this stuff comes to, like, less than a dollar per steaming, magnificent bowl.
Ok, folks, back to ‘work.’ My lunch will be ready any minute now. Have a great weekend, y’all!
Kloncke 
Hey, thanks for pointing out this blog! As Seth and I are somewhat vegetarian recipe deficient overseas and are also relatively new to cooking, it is super useful to find good recipes online. We’ve come across other vegetarian food blogs, but this one looks particularly good! One thing that’s always difficult though when cooking here is working with a mixture of metric and standard measurements…even if we have measuring cups with us, sticks of butter are still going to stubbornly come in grams instead of tablespoons. Also, I’m looking forward to making this soup–this is the land of cheap Borlotti beans galore (and, sadly, no black beans).
No black beans?! In-teresting…
Yeah, the metrics thing is confusing. But after a while, you and Seth will probably get a good sense of metric amounts and be able to eyeball it (well, maybe for cooking more than baking…), which will be such a useful skill forever after. Yay!
How are food prices doing over there? Does the Swiss government subsidize certain foods? I’ve been hearing from Noa that in Israel they lower prices on staple foods like bread, tomatoes, apples I think…you know, healthy stuff that folks need to live — not corn syrup and bacon like we do in the States.
Happy cooking over there! : )