Split Pea Soup Break

Because I really just needed to slow down for at least a day.

I'm almost over the latest in a string of ailments - hard to make myself take a quiet day at home during the holidays, when there are so many fun things to do, but I felt like I really did need to today, so I'm home making split pea soup. Yum. I got a gorgeous ham hock and some bacon ends when a friend and I went the Union Square greenmarket yesterday, carrots, potatoes and onions at the Cortelyou Road one today - now everything's sliced and diced and the soup's a-simmering on the stove and I think it might be time to take a nap.

Oh, and speaking of gorgeous food - have you ever seen noodles that candlelight could shine through like this?

This was what I had at Kelly and Ping's after my rainbow hunt the other day. I went there with a certain really wonderful duck dish of theirs in mind, but they had jap chae, a Korean dish that is another favorite of mine, on the specials. These are sweet potato noodles and even though I felt a little silly doing it, when I noticed the play of light through the transluscent noodles, I couldn't resist trying to take a picture. One of the weirder things I think I've ever tried to photograph, but it's kind of pretty, right? Oh, yes, and they tasted very good, too.