Viruses and Veggies

Woke up yesterday morning with a rough sore throat and a day full of engagements and classes. Please tell me- why on earth do viruses exist? What purpose do the serve? While reading a book last night, one of the characters voiced a similar opinion towards mosquitoes. In his frustration and anger, he began a campaign for a new God, based on the thought that our God was not competent, considering he made a creature with no apparent purpose. I am not planning a religious rebellion, but I'm still a bit irked about little non-living packs of DNA that can cause so much pain.

On another note, before I fell ill, I was standing in front of the fridge wondering what I could make with the haphazard ingredients I have, when my eyes fell upon a long, skinny eggplant I picked up at the farmers' market. I brought it out and carried it with me to my computer. From there, I searched allrecipes.com for eggplant recipes.  After some deliberation, I found a recipe for a roasted eggplant soup. Whenever I find a recipe, it is vary rare that I stick to it, unless it's baking. Had a few unsuccessful "tweakings" with baking recipes. But when it comes to using recipes online, I use them more for inspiration than for actual dictation of what I cook. For the soup, I cut my eggplant into chunks with a quartered onion, chunked red pepper half and about five cloves of garlic. I tossed the veggies with olive oil and s/p in a 9 x 13 pan and put in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then I dumped the roasted veggies into about a quart of chicken stock and simmered for a half an hour. Then with my favorite kitchen utensil- The Immersion Blender! - I whirred up the soup and added a scant cup of milk. The soup turned out rich and savory with the delicate flavor of eggplant unencumbered, and a subtle background of garlic and roasted red pepper. To top off the steaming bowl, a few crumbles of goat cheese added to the creaminess and lent a bit of a tangy contrast to the soup. It turned out to be a pleasantly surprising spin on what might have been a quite boring vegetable-based soup.