Sludge: salvaging a meal

Not having LJ access at work has detrimentally affected my blogging. I wish I could send LJ posts by email.

I don't cook very often. It seldom seems like an appealing use of my time. My latest endeavour was about a week ago, maybe more. I didn't have much available at the time. I boiled some lentils with chopped potato and onion, seasoned with curry powder, black pepper and salt.

The result, as cooked lentils often do, looked like green-tinged mud, with pebbles (lumps of potato) strewn around in it. Plus, I overcompensated for my tendency to not include enough seasoning and ended up using too much salt and way too much black pepper for my taste. I tried eating it over rice. Still too peppery.

A few days ago, I tried sauteeing a tomato with minced garlic and some more onion. Then I put a portion of sludge in the pot over the tomatoes, with a little more water. The result was a thick lentil soup which, when served over rice, was pretty darn tasty, if still a little spicier than I prefer.

I still have a container of, shall we say, soup concentrate in my freezer. It's probably enough for two servings of the reconstituted stuff.

So you want to be a space traveler?

AP: Simulated trip to Mars is planned

...the European Space Agency ... is looking for 12 volunteers for a simulated mission to Mars that will last up to 520 days in "extreme isolation and confinement."
[snip]

Unlike the adventurous spirits attracted to the desert island prospects of reality TV, only the "serious" need apply for this simulated interplanetary voyage, the space agency said. The payoff is likely less glamorous, too. Remuneration is "in line with international standards" for clinical studies, is all it would say.

The Paris-based agency, known as ESA, is working on the Mars500 project with the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow and the simulated mission will be conducted there and include Russians.
[snip]

The experiment will emphasize psychological factors, including stress resistance. The goal is to test how the volunteers hold up in nearly a year-and-a-half of close confinement, in cramped quarters with others and when communications with Earth can take 20 minutes to reach their destination — each way.

[snip]
..."Except for weightlessness and radiation, the simulations will be as close to a real Mars mission as possible," the ESA said in its call for candidates.

The living quarters will include 30-square-foot rooms for each crew member, a kitchen-dining room, living room — and one toilet. No shower is included, and water supply will be limited.
[snip]

Hmm. I vaguely remember reading that Biosphere 2 was not able to grow enough food to be self-sustaining, and also developed a cockroach infestation. If all 12 volunteers last the full 520 days, kudos to the ESA.