Innocent Erendira

My partner in life/love/crime/parenting has a friend from college in town for a month or so, and being the kindly person that he is, the aforementioned partner invited his friend over for dinner. I am not certain how much warning the friend got about his place in the meal review process (conjecture: not much), but he rolled with it and said things like, "the soup is good!" and "I like carrots a lot!" The menu consisted of the following:

AUNTIE BONNIE'S BLACK BEAN SOUP
p. 84 GOV
Prepared 10/11/06

I'm beginning to believe Auntie Bonnie knows her way around a soup pot pretty darn well. I was a little weirded out by adding ground cloves to what seemed to be a pretty traditional black bean soup recipe, and I was even more weirded out when one of my lovely kitchen assistants accidentally added nearly double the amount of cloves called for, but the spice added a tasty and delicious twist to the soup. I couldn't believe how little soup this recipe made-- it indicates that there are four servings, but there were barely three. I will recommend it but add the condition that you should add a little more of everything to actually get the amount you think you are going to end up with. If I make this again, I will double the recipe.


JANA'S LEMON CARROTS
p. 93 HIAV
Prepared 10/11/06


I too like carrots! These were fine. The final product tasted mostly like carrots, the seasonings used produce an end product whose flavors were quite subtle...so subtle, in fact, that I am not sure if it is worth adding the extra ingredients. Carrot likers/lovers are going to be happy with plain old carrots, and those who need carroty flavor somewhat disguised aren't going to find that need met by this recipe.


EASY BISCUITS
p. 122 HIAV
Prepared 10/11/06

Very simple and basic. My son was disappointed because I baked them in muffin tins and he was expecting muffins-- one of his favorites. They were on the plain side but were a good complement to the soup and I will definitely make them again.