I tried this recipe last night, and Laura says she likes it. I think a couple of changes need to be made for a little flavor enhancement. I'm listing the recipe below the way I'm going to try it next time. I would say this recipe makes about 6-8 servings. We were using relatively small bowls.

I served this with some grilled cheese sandwiches for a very comforting dinner.

I did change this recipe a little, and so I'm not entirely sure it's going to work. The biggest change is to add a half-cup of wine to the soup. My concern is that this will add too much acidity, however tomatoes are already rather acidic so I'm not convinced it'll make a difference. There is always the option of adding a pinch of baking soda to the mix, but would that just add a bunch of bubbles?

The other change I made was to use a can of crushed tomatoes. Laura complained that the soup was a little too chunky after blending. I figure if I start out with something that's a little more processed, then we'll be in better shape at the end.

If anybody tries this, please let me know how it turns out!

"The biggest threat we face today," [Vice President Cheney] said in Pennsylvania," is that one of these terror cells is organizing in the middle of one of our cities with a nuclear weapon, and the prospect that the next time they launch an attack against the U.S. it won't be just a few thousand lives. It may be a few hundred thousand."

Vice President Cheney - September 24, 2004

Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us.

Vice President Cheney - September 7, 2004

I don't necessarily agree that the only way to fight terrorism is through law enforcement; for example I, along with just about everybody I know, was fully behind the invasion of Afghanistan. However, invading foreign countries is a long long way to military action on American soil. Just what would be the military response if we do find out that a terrorist network has a nuclear bomb in the middle of an American city? Do you strike the home of the terrorist, or do you strike the cell before they have a chance to detonate their bomb? Say you run with the intelligence, and execute a military strike only to find out that there was no bomb on the premises, or even worse, that there were innocent bystanders in the way.

This is the danger in thinking that the only possible response to terrorism is martial. Of course, the reality of the situation is more likely that Cheney doesn't really believe that a civil (i.e. law enforcement) approach to terrorism is always wrong, just that its a convenient wedge to use against Senator Kerry who tends to inject more nuance into his public persona.

A friend of a friend, Mike Dupuis, has a really neat Mac application called Mac Gourmet. Its basically a recipe manager, along the lines of the popular iLife apps. What's really neat is the blog that is updated often with lots of very fun looking recipes. I'm especially intrigued by:

Avocado/Cucumber Soup

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. white vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. Canola oil
1/3 cup chopped shallots
1 English cucumber, unpeeled and sliced
3 cups chicken broth
2 avocados, pitted, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

In small bowl, combine onion, vinegar, sugar and salt. Let stand while preparing soup. In large sauce pan with Canola oil, saute shallots until translucent. Add cucumber and broth. Simmer 15 minutes until cucumber is tender. Add avocados and lemon juice. Remove from heat and puree in batches in blender. In clean pot, heat thoroughly and season to taste. Top each serving with pickled onions. Makes 4 servings.

I would replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth, of course, but it still sounds extremely yummy. They have some handy links that import these recipes directly into MacGourmet. Someday, I hope I can find this extremely useful.

Updated 9/24/2004: Okay, I tried this last night, and something is WAY WAY off. I doubled the recipe, so I was using an entire cup of lemon juice. Let me tell you, this was lemon soup with a little bit of cucumber and avocado. I'm thinking if I try it again, it'd be maybe 1 lemon, squeezed. 2 at most. Ugh. Oh well, maybe next time.

Okay, so its been a while since I've had a political post. But current world events have gotten me increasingly concerned. And no, this has nothing to do with Iraq. I'm talking about Russia's current slide into a dictatorship.

The Bush administrations response?

"This is a domestic matter for the Russian people,'' said a White House official who asked to remain anonymous. "It is important for Russia to continue along the pathway of democracy and economic reform.''

Naturally, there have been other responses from the administration:

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, said Putin's planned changes were "pulling back on some of the democratic reforms". He pledged to raise his concerns with the Russian leadership.

It remains to be seen whether or not Powell's concerns will actually get raised, or listened to. Most of the European community is outraged about this, but we know how much good that will do them without the full support of the U.S. Can we all agree yet that unilateralism has opened the door to some particularly bad actors?

Now, I may just be an unenlightened country bumpkin, but I saw the coolest thing in the subway yesterday. Between Harvard and Central Sq. T stops on the red line, there are a series of posters on the wall that become an animated Royal Caribbean ad if the train is moving fast enough. To see it, you want to sit on the side the doors open at Harvard Sq.

I was so shocked by what I saw, I spent most of the time trying to figure out exactly what it was that I was looking at; at first I thought it was a train going in the other direction! I guess its sort of sad that advertising is creeping in to the subway tunnels themselves, but it is a cool thing to look at!

Update 9/20/2004: I did a little research on this ad, and this is a first for the area (obviously). Apparently its 400 images over 1000 feet of track. I bet they have to find stretches of track where the trains are usually going the right speed; not always an easy thing to do with the MBTA. Also, this article kindly tells us that Royal Caribbean is launching a new ship out of Boston, which is perfect for Laura and I since we don't take kindly to flying to far off ports.