happy friday/potaje de garbanzo

It feels as though fall has properly arrived this week....I have been wearing turtlenecks and jeans all week, and yes, I may even break out the socks this weekend. :-) I actually had to wear a jacket when I walked the pups last evening....very, very windy, and the air was blowing down from mountain, so there definitely was a chill in the air. It has been a very good week. I got a lot of work done, despite my fairly lazy Monday. I credit the new computer...it is superfast! I accomplished many things: sent my completed absentee ballot back to Pennsylvania, paid the phone bill (early! ...had to because the banks are now restricting the hours when people can pay bills: Tuesday--Thursday, from 8:30 to 10:30 am), did some writing research (NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month...if you are interested in writing at all check out their web site www.nanowrimo.org] begins in 16 days!), almost got caught up on my e-mails, shopped online for yarn and new knitting patterns, etc. Plan to have a quiet weekend. L. has invited me to dinner at her place for Saturday; Sunday evening I plan to be listening to the football games and finishing a sweater I knitted last year. I love to knit, but I'm not a fan of putting the pieces together. It's not difficult, and I know this sweater will take but a couple hours to complete; yet the pile of knitted sleeves and front and back pieces have sat in the bottom of my wardrobe for eight months. Silly me. Also plan to make my first batch of hot soup this season today for lunch. I have been experimenting for the past few weeks having my main meal at lunchtime, like the Spanish. So far, it's worked really well, and I think I may stick to it. First, I find myself much more willing to do complicated cooking at 1:00 than at 9:00 pm, after a long day of work. Second, I think it's just more common sensical and healthy to eat more in the middle of the day rather than in the evening. This way, if I am still hungry in the evening, I can just have a sandwich or salad or some scrambled eggs, which I can throw together in no time at all with minimal effort. Today's soup will be potaje de garbanzo, and I have included my recipe here. I confess I was not really a bean eater until I spent five months living in Seville during college. Pastora, the woman who provided my room and board, made the simplest but most delicious garbanzo and rice soup, and I have been hooked ever since. Like many comfort foods, there are thousands of recipes for this dish, and frankly my own varies based on the current contents of the vegetable bin. You can add/eliminate ingredients to accommodate your eating preferences or habits. I tend to make my soups more stewlike, but you can always add more stock or water. This is the beauty of soupmaking....there are very few rules and you can almost always change them! 2 cans/jars garbanzo beans/chickpeas (you can also use the dried kind, just be sure to soak them overnight in water with a little salt) 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely couple strips of bacon, cut in thin slices olive oil 3 carrots, diced 2 potatoes, diced fresh (or frozen, if you can't buy fresh) chopped spinach or swiss chard salt, pepper, and dried rosemary, to taste 2 cups chicken stock/broth (you can also use a vegetable stock/broth) 2 cups water Add several tablespoons of olive oil to a soup pot. Saute garlic and onion until soft (don't let the garlic burn!), and then add the bacon. After five minutes, add the carrots and potatoes, stirring occasionally. After another five minutes, add remaining ingredients, except the spinach or chard. Simmer for 35 minutes. Add the spinach/chard, and simmer for another five minutes (little longer if using frozen). Serve in bowls, drizzle a little olive oil on top. Be sure to have a fresh baguette on hand for dunking. Enjoy! hasta pronto, mylifeinspain