Friday Five

I saw this on Sarah's Random Musings, and I thought it looked like fun, so here I go!

1. Battling a mild cold right now. I say "battling" because I have to be over it by... this evening. And by "over it", I mean I have to have regained my voice by 6pm. Yes, typing and a high-pitched whistley sound are the only ways I can communicate at the moment. It would funny if it weren't so ill timed.
2. Gearing up for the Breathless Books Tour on Febuary 25 which will be stopping in Raleigh, a mere hop, skip, jump, and bit of a drive from where I live. And I fully intend to hop, skip, and jump my way over there because it sounds awesome. Question: Will any other bloggers be there? I'm almost more excited about the prospect of meeting a few of the bloggers I've come to know in person than I am about seeing Beth Revis, Kirsten Miller, Ally Condie, Brenna Yovanoff, and Andrea Cremer. Almost. I'm pretty excited about getting a signed copy of Across the Universe, though. It's at the top of my wish list.
3. I'm hammering out the details for a reading challenge that I will be hosting during Lent (March 9 through April 20). Details coming soon!
4. Currently reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. It's really good. It's based on a series of lectures he gave over the radio during WWII, and what he does is he comes around to Christianity through logic and from the perspective of someone who knows basically nothing about the faith. First he points out that there is in fact Good in the world by showing that everyone everywhere agrees that there are certain things which we unanimously hold to be innately bad. If we can all agree that something is bad, then there must some Good to which we are all measuring the bad against. Or something like that. Really, you should read it because I can't explain it justly; it's one of the most interesting things I've ever read.

Hmmm... I'm having trouble thinking up a fifth thing. I could tell you how much I rolled my eyes at that guy's "stunning revelation" that the Mona Lisa is a dude (So dumb. What did he do, ask DaVinci? Oh, that's right! He's dead.), or I could share the story about how my cat has taken it upon herself to nurse me back to health (we call her Nurse Puddy because she doesn't leave your side if you're sick), or that I had nutella on toast for beakfast, or how happy I was that the grounhog didn't see his shadow... Oh! I got it! I'll share a recipe that for what I was craving the most this week.

    5.  Creamy Potato Soup with Seared Steak and Tomato Relish (makes 7 1/2 cups)

         For Tomato Relish:

         Stir together and chill...

         1 1/2 C. tomato, diced and seeded

         1/2 blue or feta cheese

         1/2 C. fresh chives

         For the soup:

         4 russet potatoes, pierced, rubbed w/ olive oil, and baked at 450* for 45-60 min,

            or until tender. Skin and mash potatoes, be careful, they are hot; set aside.

         4 T. unsalted butter, melted in a big pot over med-high heat. Add...

         1/2 C. onion, diced; allow to cook for 5 min, or until soft, then whisk in...

         1/4 C. flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. To the flour/onion pot, add...

         3 C.warmed  milk (recipe calls for whole milk, but I say use whatever % you're used 

                to) and...

         2 C. chicken broth, whisking constantly till thickened, 4-5 min.Stir in potatoes and...

         salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 min. Heat a skillet over med-high heat

         for 5 min...

         For steak:

         1 lb. top serloin steak, 1" thick and seasoned w/ salt and pepper. Sear in hot skillet,

            4-5 minutes per side. Allow to rest for five min befoire slicing into thin strips,

            going against the grain.

         While steak is resting, puree soup in a blender till smooth.

         Serve this hardy soup with steak strips and tomato relish on top and Ceasar salad on
         the side. Also good with diced bacon and shredded sharp-cheddar.

And that concludes my Friday Five!