I LUV Cooking-Tomato Soup

I love this summer because I got a lots of time for myself to search for cooking recipes, and try them out at home~! I found these websites are usually someone’s personal blogs, and they have posted the step by step pic on their website, this way I know it works. It’s much better to go with someone’s recipe than the cooking book ones. In a way, I am not that talented to follow the cook book, it never turns out to be the one I imagined. But this way, I know someone out there already tried out and it actually works! I am also smart on picking the simple recipes, French cooking are too complicated, I will save it for those who are out there dedicated…
I LUV FOOD!
Tomato Soup

Borrow the recipe from my co-worker, a 20 year old poor college student. She got it from a book called “healthy cook book”, you can actually find it on Amazon for $1.35, plus S&H, you can get a very good healthy cook book published in 1998 for 5 bucks total! It’s a bargain~ I actually flipped through the book, and if they got pic I would definitely buy the book. Too bad that I am a visual learner.
Ingredient List
1 TBSP Olive Oil
1/3 C finely diced onions
¼ C finely diced celery
¼ C finely diced carrots
1 clove garlic, minced
3 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced (see note)
1 bay leaf
2 TBSP minced fresh parsley or 1 TBSP dried
2 tsp minced fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp minced fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried
1 tsp minced fresh marjoram or ½ tsp dried or 1/3 tsp oregano dried
3 cups defatted chicken broth or reduced-sodium tomato juice
¼ tsp ground black pepper

1) In a large sauce pan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes, or until onions are soft.
2) Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, parsley, basil, thyme and marjoram (Oregano).
3) Cover and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture is soft
4) Gradually stir in the broth or tomato juice and bring to a boil. (My 1 can of chicken broth only covers 2 cups, so I used the tomato sauce that was in my pantry forever ago to cover the 3rd cup, turns out just fine)

5) Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the pepper.
6) Remove and discard the bay leaf

NOTE: To peel tomatoes easily, dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds, or until the skins begin to crack. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. When cool enough to handle, slip off and discard the skins.
NOTE 2: For all the vegetables, to cheat, just throw all of them into a blender, if you don’t like chunky soup, I like mine liquidy. Also, you can substitute tomatoes from store bought canned diced tomatoes, but I find them too chunky, then I blend them anyway.

Book said this will yield 4 servings, each serving is about 79 calories, 3.8g fat, 4.7 g protein, 7.9g carbohydrates, 1.8g dietary fiber, 0mg cholesterol, 271mg sodium.

HAPPY SOUP DAY!

Rainbow at work

I love working at the front desk, let me interact with real people, deal with emergency situation, and practice my people skills. Oh, and best part, I can see the blue sky when I first come to work (unlike in the hospital, there's no window back in the treatment rooms).

One day in July, a huge thunderstorm stopped by College Station, and afterwards I saw the rainbow right across the street. It's hard not to capture it, so I pulled out my camera.

Be a wonderful discover. :D

Fall In Love With a Gangster

Public Enemies (4.5 stars)

Starring:
Johnny Depp!!! (there should have nothing more to say about this charming actor),

Chrstian Bale (Bat-man~)

and Marion Cotillard (French, Academy award winner)


Director: Michael Mann (Directed The Insider, Ali, Miami Vice, and produced the Aviator, the Kingdom, and Hancock)

Before I watched the movie, I barely have any idea who John Dillinger was. I went to see the movie because I trust Johnny Depp. I would never doubt his choice of movie, same goes to Robert Downey Jr. , Al Pacino, and Brad Pitt. They got sense.

Walking out from the movie, I am in a stage of paradox. Not about the movie, but questioning my own ethic. The movie is about a criminal, a sly gangstar who rubs banks during the great depression era. But I look at Dillinger from the movie as a hero, and I thought he is actually a very charming and a very charismatic man. Where's my morale? For this, I blame on Johnny Depp. He portraited this character in such a way that viewers like me start feeling bad for the villain. I am not good at critic movies, but just want to share my thought. I can't critic on camera angle, or acting, but I like the story line. I think Depp successfully re-create another historical figure. Depp's Dillinger was a gentlemen, and somewhat like the Robinhood back in the old ages. He rub banks, but he won't take a person's money out of his pocket ("We are here for the bank's money, not yours, put it away"). He was kind of the man who take the secretary of the banker as hostage, but would still leave his trench coat with her to protect her from the coldness of the winter. He is not a murderer, he doesn't kill people because it is fun. He challenged the authorities by exploring the Chicaco police office Dillinger's Squad in the broad daylight. He was a charming man in the America's media's eye and to the general public. When he was captured (again) and drove down the street, the street people treat him like a celebrity. He was also the reason federal government moved on to establish the FBI (well, somewhat contributed to that). In this movie, I felt that he was a hero (don't shoot me because I usually despise the bad guys).Oh, and at the beginning, I couldn't stop to think him as the pirate in the movie, and his facial expression just reminded me so much of him in his successful movie triology. But his magic touch does not stop here, and he successfully (again) build another character of his in this movie. All I can say it's....It's Johnny Depp, what else can you expect?

Christian Bale's character was more like a villain to me than Depp's. I think at the end, he is out of his mind. His department reminds me of mafia instead of police force. I was surprised to see that he soon left the Beureau after Dillnger's death, and end his life by himselves. Sad character...completely gone psycho after chasing the American Number One Public Enemy. Lost his mind, poor guy.

Billie Frechette, Dillinger's women. I am just amazed how tough she was. In order to be an American's Number One Public Enemy's women, she must be tough. It was a sweet thing to see Dillinger really falls for a girl like her, and he was actually very dedicated to this one single women. He would risk his life for hers. I am glad that she is not just part of the ordinary love line, but she is actually a character. Her characters were well built up by Marion Cotillard.

At the end, Dillinger end his life in a quick and fast way. Of course he should be executed...because he was a bank rubber. It's a sad thing to watch it in the movie though, but I am sure during the real old days, people were happy.

"There were indeed a number of instances of subtle humor that few others than Johnny Depp can truly offer in addition to Director Michael Mann’s successful attempt in capturing the early-30s era in all aspects of the film. " (http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/10628)

Afterall, I just wanna say, Johnny Depp, you are amazing!~

~The End~