Let me start by saying that there are so many things that are more important than basketball. I hope many of you were enjoying those as much as one can given the events of the recent few days. Everyone knows why tonight’s game was played tonight and not yesterday.
Target Center was absolutely devoid of energy, as was the entire Timberwolves roster. The bench once again proved to be the downfall of the team. Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle struggled and it was all their own fault. The Wolves lost a fifth
straight game for the first time in nearly four years.
There were some bright spots. Minnesota kept the game close in the first half behind a shared scorcher from Donte Divincenzo and Anthony Edwards. Joan Beringer continues to showcase the type of effort you love to see from a 19 year old trying to prove their worth.
That’s about all there is to say about this game. It was a miserable one to take part in watching.
Maybe there’s some joy in watching Steph Curry continue to play great basketball even at his advanced age. Maybe there was something enjoyable in seeing the Prince jerseys and courts in their eternal glory, but I don’t think I have it in me to celebrate that.
Instead, I am going to take the advice of our very own Leo Sun and share something I find far more enjoyable, that maybe some of you will be able to enjoy for yourself.
Last night I made lentil soup. Here is how you can make it for yourself:
Latrell Lentil Soup to Feed My Family
Ingredients:
- 1 package of red lentils, washed and soaked.
- 2 cups homemade chicken stock
- 1 large ginger root
- 1/2 large onion
- 1 small serrano pepper (dealer’s choice here honestly)
- 2 cloves garlic
- Choice of spices (I used turmeric, red chili flakes, five spice, cumin, and cardamom)
Step 0: I’ve never actually written out a recipe so I guess I’ll start with the prep work. Soak your lentils for at least an hour in room temperature water. Go longer if you don’t want your lentils to retain their shape, or shorter if you want them to be crunchy (why would you ever want that?)
Peel your ginger with a spoon. Sometimes I like to boil it before letting it cool to soften it but that is a completely unnecessary step.
Blacken your pepper one the stove. If you have an electric stove, use the oven. You won’t get the same effect, but it’ll be something at least.
Dice your onion in the way you would imagine a witch in the forest would do i.e. rough chop, no big pieces, but certainly no big ones. Mince the garlic. Grate your ginger.
Step 1: Sautee your chopped onions and garlic. Add table salt to speed up the process. Add a small mixture of one part vinegar to two parts water to speed up the process even more. Keep it stirring until the onions start turning golden.
Step 2: add your aromatic spices (chili flakes, cardamom if you’re using pods, ginger, etc) to the pan along with the chopped pepper, adding a little bit more oil if needed to prevent burning. It should smell really nice at this point.
Step 3: Use a bit of stock to scrape anything that might’ve burnt to the bottom of the pan. We won’t get fond because we’re not using meet, but it’s still fun to do. Add your lentils with half of the water drained. Add the rest of your stock. Add some bay leaves. You’re worth it.
Optional Step 3.5: Initially, I had wanted to stew ox tail in this soup (talk about being greedy), but couldn’t find any cuts that looked decent/worth the price point. Instead, I bought beef neck meat, which is far cheaper and has a similar fat/sinew content. I browned it in a pan with a coating of flour and deglazed the pan with a small bit of wine I had left over from a date night. Add that to your pot if you so please.
Step 4: If you’re using a pressure cooker, you can set it to the “soup” function and leave it alone for a few hours. Otherwise, put your pot on the lowest temperature that realistically still heats it and leave it. Check it every 30 or so minutes. If it’s getting too thick before you’re ready to eat it, add some water and incorporate it. If it’s still too viscous by the time you want to eat, well, seems like you need to wait a little longer.
Step 5: Eat. Enjoy. Be warmed. Share it with friends. With family. Take care of yourselves and each other. Use the leftovers. Throw it on top of pasta and throw some parmesan on it and enjoy a bowl of that. Make a pizza dough and use it instead of sauce.
I don’t know if any of you will enjoy that, but I hope some of you get what I’m trying to say.
There are more important things than basketball.
