LENTIL SOUP!!!

dudes,
sometimes,
nothing goes the way you hoped it would.
i'm not talking about anything major-
no worldwide policy failure for human interactive decency or anything.
c'mon.
i'm much more individualistically personal than that-
word.
i'm just saying that my day off went by too quickly,
and i accomplished much less than i'd hoped for.
dang.
a fleeting flash in-the-pan NOvember day away from the tattzap studio
had me racing around with both hands prestidigitating-
working wonders and chafing at chores,
cooking, baking, sweeping, kneading, raking, petting, punching, steering,
stirring, typing, swiping, tallying and tabulating all at terminal velocity.
as fast as my fanged fingers and thumbs
could manipulate the tools necessary to do so-
and so, i did so-
only,
not quite efficiently enough to effectively get it all done.
that's the thing about too much being the right amount.
the to-do list is longer than the possibility of finishing it.
...
there was good news, though, neighbors.
i got a lot done, anyway,
although the art-making portion of the program
was paused due to overly-disruptive exuberance from my dog.
uh-huh.
as usual, and predictably,
crabtree derailed the complete-concentration segment of the day.
he's very good at that.
i doubt he can actually help himself-
he's just disposed to devotional displays of destruction.
i can surely, sorely, superlatively relate to the sentiment.
i mean,
how else would he and i have ended up together
in this Folk Life & Liberty Fortress bachelor pad predicament?
awwwwwwwwww.
we live like an at-odds-couple of calamitous comrades,
here in the big house, which feels just like that.
what?
no.,
i already told you-
there's good news, too....
like, foremost and very importantly,
the elite and expert suppertime explosion i concocted on a whim..
HOLY SH!T.
i brought some hottness down from on high,
and served it up to myself on speckled crackle-lacquered stoneware.
check the beautiful-bountiful-babarian-beans-and-rice-type teleport:

WOOOOOOOOOOOORD UP!!!
all the flavors you could want.
all the textures that you need.
all the hottness that the pan could handle,
all together at once,
just for me.
i'm pretty effing good to myself at dinnertime, guys.
that's no joke.
and this dinner went straightaway to eleven.\
that's for serious, as well.
what do we have on the menu?
get ready, kiddo, because here it comes:
homemade seitan steaks,
dredged in cornstarch, GPOP, black pepper, ground dried mustard seed,
smoked paprika, salt, and sage-
pan-seared in butterish,
and topped off with fried garlic sprankles.
mmmmm.
that's all on top of some lightly-starched flash-fried frisee,
which just so happened to get softened and crisped at the precise same time.
and,
it added a creamy, fresh note to every last bite of that sh!t.
hey!!
yeah-
you know anything about those roasted acorn squash wedges?
well, you're gonna-
GPOP'd and s&p'd, and olive oiled, and totally expert.
i baked 'em for about 40 minutes at 350F, and they were perfect.
for realsies,
i couldn't have been more psyched on the rich, deep flavors i was getting.
until i took a forkful of that red-oniony wild rice to the dome!!
daaaaaamn!
a little spicy onion is nice, but with that smooth grilled leek sexxxiness activation?
i was practically crapping joy-turds out of my eyes, man.
oooooof.
i loved every thing on that plate.
and then i had three bowlfuls of that burly triple lentil stew!!!
triple lentil?
yep.
red, black, and green.
fred, huey, and george.
with carrots and celery and a whole yellow onion,
plus three cloves of garlic, in butter and olive oil,
with 3 T fresh cilantro
3 T fresh parsley
GPOP for days,
seitan broth (about half a gallon's worth of salty, brothy, slightly smoky yum)
a punch of nootch,
1/2 c red lentils (they disappear)
1/2 cup black lentils (they don't)
and 12 oz cooked green lentils
all that, black pepper and fresh parsely at the end of half an hour's worth of simmering,
with 2 cups of chopped collards wilted in during the last ten minutes,m
and wordimus prime,
the whole thing is ready to make walls falls and blow doors off of their hinges.
real talk.
and the big upgrade for that bowl of big burly barbarian bean activation?
homemade, toasted, buttered sourdough rye bread.
BOOOOOOM!!!!
then, just because i hadit on hand for a whole other 'nother thing-
i dropped a ring of slow roasted sesame-oil seared delicata squash on top.
y'know the drill:
too much is the right amount.
that's the truth.
it's also why i can't get as much done in a day-
it's all about MORE,
but on a case by case everything-gets-the-same-big-sexxy-style sort of level.
that's demanding.
so,
i just do what i do,
as hard as i can,
and let the events play out as i play with fire.
i am grateful for the time i have been given.
i mean that from the bottom-most basement of my being-
i'm happy to have the meager minutes i make matter most...
no matter how few there seem to be-
it's still way more than having none.
yup.
the only thing worse than not enough time, is NO time.
and the only thing worse than a hard style is no style at all,
recognize-
personal flair, flavor, and freshness
are all principal elements of the warrior poetic principles.
this is What Is,
and there;s no good reason not to rock out from the first to the last;
never quiet, never soft.....