This ribbon picture has nothing to do with using an immersion blender, I just liked it.

I'm going skiing today instead of sewing, but first I wanted to ask you something: "Have you noticed that recipes for Red Lentil Soup are everywhere this winter?"

The one by Melissa Clark for her "A Good Appetite" column in the New York Times on Jan. 9 is much better than the one in Gourmet magazine that I mentioned on Jan. 10. It's so fast and easy you can start it when you are already hungry. (This is the last post about soup, I promise.) (Search "Red Lentil Soup with Lemon" on the NYT site and you'll find it.)

I substituted water for the vegetable broth after reading the broth carton ingredients. Vegetable broth is the world's biggest health food conglomerate ripoff. It's basically just water, powdered carrots and powdered celery. Who are they kidding?

I didn't bother to measure the ingredients; I just shook them out until they looked "good enough." I also didn't have a lemon or cilantro but would have used them if I did. (You can start to see why this soup was so fast to make.)

It also took less than the suggested thirty minutes of simmering. I would like to tell you how long I did cook it but that would mean I was in the habit of looking at the clock or setting a timer when I start cooking things. Both of which are commendable habits and if I weren't so scattered I would do them. But I don't.

Oh, just a reminder, put the immersion blender IN the soup before you turn it on. And make sure that the open box of pasta next to the soup pot is moved out of the way before you do anything because when you turn on the blender before putting it in the soup, then immerse it, soup will fly everywhere and while you are saying, "Oh, darn" and moving the blender back out of the soup (still turned on--oops, again) you will knock over the pasta, and it will fall on the floor and you'll have to pick it up, while being careful not to step on it, when you really just want to eat your soup.

So, to recap, move that box of pasta before you blend the soup.

One last thing. Unplug the blender before you wash it. Turns out they're not kidding with that cool lightning bolt through the hand electric shock hazard symbol.