Supermeow!

So, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve been hittin’ the gym and last night, I got a good lesson in why it’s important to stretch before and after you start working out. My right leg and occasionally my arm keep spasming with seemingly no provocation (like spasming when at rest). Maybe I’m making the smallest movements that are causing pain to flare in spots, especially my right thigh, I don’t know. It’s also the sort of thing that could be caused by MS, though I don’t think so (but I’ve been wrong before about thinking something couldn’t possibly be MS-related when it was). Anyhow, the pain was bad enough that I stayed home today and kept heat on it (which seems to relieve the pain – the muscle relaxants I have around for MS-related spasms aren’t doing anything). It’s still pretty painful.

Since the title of this post would lead one to believe that food’s to be talked about, I’ll get to that. It’s… kind of boring to lie in bed with a heat pad trying not to move around too much. That’s usually the time when I start getting food-creative.

Mysterious orange surface...

Knowing now that I had to try and stretch my legs, I decided to get out of bed (where every single episode of Law & Order SVU that’s been on today has been an episode I’ve seen at least once before) and take a look at the fridge, which has been bulging with leftovers that need to have something done with them. Among the leftovers were two enormous roasted sweet potatoes, some light coconut milk, some chicken broth, two blood oranges, and a bag of limes. Coincidentally, all of these things taste wonderful when combined!

Hello, curried sweet potato soup!

Into my 3-quart Le Creuset pot went a chopped yellow onion, a shallot, and about ten cloves of garlic, the latter two minced, along with ~2 tablespoons of olive oil. After they seemed nice and translucent, I started tossing in things that I thought would taste good. I added some ground coriander seed, turmeric, ground dried galangal, cumin, and some sweet curry powder (I wanted it to be nice and yellow AND to have a nice curry-tasting background, hence the turmeric and curry, which already has turmeric, but never you mind).  I peeled the massive sweet potatoes, chopped them into big chunks, and tossed those around, too. Some of the garlic had gotten a little toasty/bottom-of-pot clingy, so I added the coconut milk  (about a cup and a half?). I stirred it around a bit, then added the chicken broth slowly (I think I added around 3-4 cups – I wanted it to have a sort of velvety texture, not too thick and not too runny).  I added the chicken broth as I went at it all with my stick blender. I’d also juiced one of the blood oranges and used 1/2 the juice from it (the other I’m saving for something else) and also added the juice from two limes. I let it simmer a little bit, tasted for seasoning, and voila! Beautiful soup!

Remains of the blood orange and two massive sweet potatoes