Dinner #2 - Brad cooks!

Oh how I love my husband's spring break. Let me count the ways.....1) He remembered how to cook! 2) He remembered how to clean! 3) He had time to go to the movies. TWICE! In one WEEK! 4) He washed the car! 5) We went out for drinks. With FRIENDS! (oh...and he also managed to make time to go to Amoeba Records and Rockaway Records twice EACH. But record stores, now that's hardwired into his DNA. If he ever gets struck with the Alzheimer's, he'll probably forget my name, but still be able to describe in great detail all the best record stores in a 50 mile radius.)

When he wasn't reliving his 90's nostalgia kick (he got a Tori Amos album for pete's sake!) he was cooking dinner for us! One of Brad's dinners this week was Lentil Minestrone. Oh and how beautiful and delicious it was. He used up some lentils we've had in the back of the cupboard and some collard greens that I bought in a fit of produce delusion. 9 times out of 10 when I buy a vegetable I'm unfamiliar with, it usually ends up in the compost pile after we scrape it's rotting corpse from the bottom of that drawer in the fridge. But I buy anyway. I think to myself: "Collard Greens - I don't know how to cook these, but I'll buy it anyway in hopes that I'll get struck with an amazing recipe for collard green brownies." (Note -- no such recipe struck me this week. I'll keep you posted for the future veggie inspired desserts). Needless to say, I was happy when Brad told me he needed a 'bunch of greens' for the recipe. Another dollar saved from the compost!

It turned out delish. We ate it with some crusty bread and shaved parmesan and I enjoyed a glass of rather cheap white wine (gotta love a student's salary!). We picknicked on the living room floor. The lentil minestrone warmed us. The wine warmed me even more.

I give his minestrone a 4/5. Anytime Brad cooks, though, he's very thorough and meticulous when it comes to following recipe instructions, so his dinners usually come out in top form.

With all the work he was doing around the house, I had extra time to work on my garden! Next spring break I might just have to rent Brad out to the highest bidder. Any takers?