So good, reminder of home and thinking of them

- I suppose food bloggers would put this in a bowl to photograph it, or at least wipe the sides of the soup pot.  :)  This delicious recipe came from the smitten kitchen blog and I loved making it.  Crushed tomatoes, lentils, carrots, celery, onion, Italian sausage, garlic, spices, greens.  So good!  Click the Smitten Kitchen link above to get the recipe.  It could easily be made vegetarian by omitting the sausage.  It's for lunch today - topped with some grated romano cheese.  Yum.

- Switching to Gain laundry detergent just because of this story:  my sister Jo and her husband own a small business and one of their employees was deployed to Afghanistan several months ago.  They keep in touch and he told Jo in an email that what he misses most is fresh sheets on the bed.  His always seem to feel sandy.  So she bought some sheets in the correct size, washed them with Gain and packed them in a zipped plastic bag and sent them off to him.  He told her that he hasn't wanted to put them on his cot - he just likes to unzip the bag and breathe in the smell of the detergent every now and then.  It reminds him of home.

- The delightful smell of that detergent when I walk by clothes that I hung to dry in the doorway.  They also make me think of my sister and the young man in a faraway land.

It's the weekend!  I am looking forward to my two days off and hope you are, too.  Have a great one!