Fabulous Mail Surprise

(as opposed to a fabulous MALE surprise).

My darling pal Stacy of Magic Love Crow fame surprised me with a feel-good mail package. I've been putting off posting about it because my photo software was acting up (why does that always happen right after you update software?) and I haven't gotten good photos.

Well, I'm going to have to ignore that because I don't want to wait any longer. A HUGE thank-you to Stacy for sending me two of my favourite pieces:

You Are Never Alone

and, Celebration:

I just adore them. They are now in my office, helping me hit my nanowrimo goals each day.

Thanks again, sooooooo much, Stacy!

Mushroom-Millet Soup (and nanowrimo)

Nanowrimo has started (and yes, I am already behind) so I'm trying to make simpler meals to get out of the kitchen faster. This of course allows me to procrastinate from writing in a bunch of other ways.  :)

Though it was sunny today, it was also pretty chilly so I thought soup would be a great idea. Also, due to a little misunderstanding about the grocery list, I ended up with two ginormous trays of mushrooms. So here it goes:

Mushroom-Millet Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 ginormous tray of mushrooms (4-5 cups sliced)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups white beans (I used navy, you can use whatever you have)
6-8 cups mushroom stock (or veggie broth, chicken broth, whatever)
2 cups greens (I used spring mix to finish it off)
1 cup cooked* millet**
thyme, salt and pepper

Chop onion and saute in oil until soft. Add in all of those mushrooms and garlic and let it go until the mushrooms start to soften. Throw in the rest of it and let it simmer for at least a half hour but all afternoon is even better.

* To cook millet, add 1/2 cup dry millet + 1-1/2 cups water (or broth) into a saucepan. Let simmer for 25 minutes until the millet is soft. Don't worry if all of the water is not absorbed, as long as it is soft. Just throw it all in the pot.
** You can definitely substitute quinoa, couscous, barley, amaranth. Whatever you've got.

Now get back to writing.