One Pot Everything Soup/Shame/No More Netflix

Ok after this one the movies need to get lighter. I promise the next one will not be full of murdering or sex addicts. The Halloween season got the better of me.

This week is a big landmark for me. I have been a Netflix subscriber since 2006, when streaming movies wasn't a thing. After the "big split" of the streaming and by-the-mail services and the price increase, I was a bit peeved but kept going with the service and shelled out the $16 per month.

 Since moving here, I have fallen in love with this place. They have sections by director. They have an entire wall of criterion collection movies. They were the ones that had the Dario Argento shelf up in the horror section during Halloween season. It's wonderful. Contrary to what Trey Parker and Matt Stone think, people still go to movie stores.

Randy's movie store was not as cool.

I encourage everyone in the Boston area to give this place a try. The prices are a little steep for renting just one movie, but they have buy one get one free on Tuesdays. Also, if you rent a lot of movies, you can get a card for $40 that gets you 20 movies. I opted for this deal.

Anywaaays, Shame was my last movie from Netflix. You can read my review after the recipe post!

The food I made this week is kind of similar to the first post in the sense that the beets turned everything red again. It was delicious regardless, but you can just leave them out if you don't want another pink soup. As a matter of fact, this recipe is kind of a run-of-the-mill clean-out-the-fridge soup recipe. It also only uses one big pot, which is nice for cleanup. There are a lot of different ingredients you can add and take away, but I would say that the advantage of using the list I have compiled is that everything is in season. Stay tuned for Wednesday's post for the delicious bread I served alongside it (and a nice happy movie. I promised.).

Oh, also I used lettuce in my soup. Trust me on this one.

Recipe: Shamefully Simple One Pot Everything Soup

Ingredients

1 bulb kohlrabi (see last post for what the heck that is)

4 stalks celery

1 lb carrots

1 large red onion

2 medium beets (about a pound)

3 cloves garlic

1/2 head boston lettuce

1.5 cups of pasta (you can use whatever - I used tiny little bow tie noodles; orecchiette would work too)

5 cups broth (chicken or veggie, whatever you fancy)

1 cup V-8 tomato juice (I used spicy for a kick)

1 tbsp olive oil or cooking spray

Peel and chop kohlrabi into bite sized pieces. I would use a knife instead of a vegetable peeler for this guy because of the tough outer skin. Dice the celery, carrots and onion. Cook at the bottom of large pot with a splash of olive oil or some cooking spray. Sweat the vegetables without browning them (it took me about 7-10 minutes over low heat). 

While those veggies are sweating to the oldies, wash, peel, and dice the beets into bite sized pieces (you can use a vegetable peeler for this one). Dice the garlic. Raise the heat to medium, add to the pot and cook for another 5 minutes. While those are cooking, wash and dry lettuce and cut into strips. Add to pot and wilt for about 4-5 minutes (you can put the cover on at this time to speed along the process).

Add the broth and V-8 juice. Stir well. Add the pasta. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Serve hot. I put some hot sauce on it and it was TITS. One of these days I'll blog about my hot sauce collection. Alternatively, you can omit the pasta and put the soup over rice - I'm sure that would be quite nice. 

Step-by-Step Instructions

Chop carrots, celery and onion. Peel and dice kohlrabi into bit-sized pieces

Sweat the veggies with some oil or cooking spray for about 7-10 minutes over medium-low heat

Peel and dice beets into bite-sized pieces. Dice garlic.

Add to pot and cook for another 5-7 minutes.

Wash and cut lettuce into strips.

Wilt for about 5 minutes.

Add pasta, bouillon and V-8 and cook until done (took mine about 10 minutes)

I swear by this bouillon as a base for everything. Also, the V-8 added a nice tomato twang to the soup

Serve hot! With hot sauce!

Movie Review: Shame (2011)

What a hunk

I hope my mom doesn't read this one. Mom, if you're reading, just stop and eat the soup. Don't watch this movie, or at least don't tell me if you watch this movie. Definitely not one for ABC Family Sunday nights. 

Shame is rated NC-17, and for pretty good reason. The sex scenes are extremely graphic, but done in a way that makes sense for the movie.

The movie follows Brandon, a New York advertising executive, who is a full-blown sex addict. His life is consumed by this addiction much like a substance abuse problem. At work, home, out at the bar, and even on the subway, Brandon seeks ways to feed his desires. He tries to make real connections but his situation has gotten so out of hand that he is incapable of having any sort of intimacy with another person (we learn that his longest relationship has been only a few months). His emotionally dependent sister appears and stays at his apartment where they are constantly at each others' throats. We get the sense that the two came from a troubled past ("we're not bad people...we just come from a bad place"), but the details are left up to the viewer. 

The film definitely left me with a lot to think about. I had never really seen sex addiction as a real problem, but the way Fassbender is able to get into his character really convinces you that this kind of thing does exist. Like I said, the sex scenes are graphic, but they are done in an emotionless way that allows the viewer to see just how far removed Fassbender's character is from being able to have feelings for another person. The soundtrack is absolutely stunning, and really gives the movie the depressing lost feeling it needs. If you see it/have seen it, and we are friends, you should tell me so we can talk about it. Trailer posted below.