Happy birthday, Henry!!!!!!

OK, so today was my brother in law's birthday and he wasn't here to celebrate, so I cooked an awesome meal for him and had Matthew and Ruth over to enjoy in his absence.  Once again, Yotam Ottolenghi pulls out a winner (or two)!  His cookbook, Plenty More, is a vegetarian orgy and the pictures are beautiful enough to make you want to never eat meat again.  Tonight's fare consisted of Tart Apple and Celery Root Salad which had a pungent, sweet-and-sour taste....very crisp and yummy!  Followed by a fabulous main course of Legume Noodle Soup which is an Iranian derivitive of a Persian dish.  It is touted as "the Iranian answer to minestrone", but again I say, "the peasants sure eat well in other countries!"  However, it is interesting to me that something labeled as peasant food requires nothing short of 19 ingredients.  Suffice it to say I went to the store three times during the two day course of making this meal.  It was well worth it and I will definitely be making this again!  Chickpeas, lima beans, split peas, turmeric, spinach, lots of fresh spices, linguine, sour cream, lime.....interesting combinations that all work very well together.  Happy birthday, Henry!  We all had seconds in your honor!  Hugs!!!!!!!