A la Carte: Two New (and Lucky) Soups for the New Year

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Lee White

Lee White

Luck can be two different sides of a coin.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I lost one very good friend, and another very good friend lost his mother.

Just three days after that, I went to a birthday party for Jacques Pepin, who is now 86. It was a small party of maybe 14 people. Most of us have known each other for 20 or more years.

Jacques’ beautiful wife, Gloria, died just a year ago, while Marty Travis’ husband died less than a decade ago. My husband died 12 years ago. While all three of us terribly miss our spouses, all 14 feel lucky to be together, pretty healthy, tripled vaxxed … and even smarter than when we were in college!

We also never talked about politics.

Now it is 2022 and I am hoping all my readers and friends (many are both), my children and their children, and all of yours too, have great luck, superb health and enough prosperity to share with others.

Below are two good luck soups. Both are delicious.

Good Luck Lentil Soup

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Adapted from Italian Holiday Cooking by Michele Scicolone (William Morrow, New York, 2001)
Yield: serves 8

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 ounces pancetta, chopped*
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 small dried pepperoncini (I use a pinch of crushed red pepper instead)
1 pound lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
½ cup dried tomatoes, cut into strips (I use a 28-ounce can of Muir Glen diced tomatoes, instead)
Salt to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil

In a large pot, combine oil, pancetta, onion, garlic and pepperoncino (or crushed pepper) over medium heat until the onion is wilted and golden.

Add lentils then stir in the peppers and tomatoes. If using dried tomatoes, add 6 cups of water; if using canned tomatoes, add 2 to 3 cups water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes, until lentils are almost tender.

Add salt to taste and simmer until lentils are cooked.

Serve hot or at room temperature with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

*Pancetta is unsmoked Italian bacon. Rolled into a sausage shape, pancetta is used to flavor bean dishes and sauces. Most supermarkets have it in the deli department.

Friendship Soup Mix

From Vange Chatis of Somers, Connecticut
Yield: 4 quarts

1 pound ground beef
3 quarts water
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
½ cup dry split peas
¼ cup pearl barley
¼ cup dried minced onion
½ cup uncooked long-grain rice
1/3 cup beef bouillon granules
½ cup dry lentils
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
½ cup alphabet macaroni or other small macaroni

In a very large stockpot, brown beef, then drain. Add water, tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients except for the macaroni. Stir together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Add macaroni, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until everything is tender.

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn. Contact Lee at leeawhite@aol.com.

Jan. 5 COVID-19 Update: 25 New Cases in Old Lyme Take Cumulative Total to 684, Four New Cases Raise Lyme’s Total to 175

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Olwen Logan

Photo by CDC on Unsplash,

LYME-OLD LYME — The Daily Data Report issued Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, at 4 p.m. by the Connecticut Department of Health (CT DPH) shows 25 new, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Old Lyme taking the town’s total of cumulative cases from 659 to 684.

Four new cases were reported in Lyme, taking that town’s cumulative total to 175.

The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate fell marginally in the Jan. 5 report to 22.6% and COVID-related hospitalizations increased by 114 to 1,676.

Significantly, 1,128 (representing 67.3%) of those hospitalized are not fully vaccinated.

To give context to the state’s positivity rate of 22.6% on Jan. 5, 2022, an article by Alex Putterman published in the Hartford Courant Dec. 28, 2021, reported that, “Connecticut blew past its previous record for COVID-19 positivity rate … for a daily rate of 14.98%. Previously, the state hadn’t reported a positivity rate higher than 11% on any given day since widespread testing began in spring 2020.”

The next report from CT DPH will be issued Thursday, Jan. 6, at around 4 p.m.

As we reported in our Thursday, Dec. 30 weekly COVID-19 Update, the weekly COVID-19 Average Daily Case Rate Report issued by the state on that day showed that the total number of towns in the Red (highest) Zone for case rates has increased from last week’s total of 166 to 168, leaving only one town in the state — Canaan — not in the Red Zone. This number of 168 is equivalent to 99.4 percent of towns in the state.

The CT DPH will issue an updated map of the zones Thursday, Jan. 6 — the map is updated weekly on Thursdays.

All the towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) are in the Red Zone.

Under new state protocols for schools, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools are no longer required to carry out contact tracing , but LOL Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser said in a Jan. 4 email to the school community that he, “… will continue to notify the school community of any positive cases of COVID-19 that impact the schools.”

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools closed Dec. 23, 2021 and reopened Monday, Jan. 3, 2022 after the winter break meaning no new cases were reported by the schools during that period.

Yesterday, Wednesday, Jan. 5, Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Today we became aware of the following [14] individuals who tested positive after being present at school. At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms are identified by the teacher’s last name.
LOLHS- 6
Mile Creek- 1 (Herel)
Lyme- 3 (Tartisel, Sobus, McDermott)
Center-4 (Mullaney’s PM class, Miles)

He continued, “As always, any student or staff member, whether having known exposure or not, that is exhibiting any symptoms of illness including, but not limited to, fever (temp 100.4 F and above), chills, uncontrolled new cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, muscle or body aches, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fatigue, congestion, or a runny nose should not attend school, notify the school nurse, quarantine, and be tested.”

*See below for a full listing of all LOL Schools-related cases since schools opened in the fall on Aug. 26, 2021.

Here are some significant extracts from the Dec. 30 CT DPH report:

As of Dec. 29, 2021:

Number of cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 58,212
Number of fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 2,513,612
Percent of fully vaccinated persons, who have contracted COVID-19: 2.32%
Of the 1,151 patients currently hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, 619 (71.2%) are not fully vaccinated.

For the week beginning Dec. 19, 2021:

Risk of unvaccinated persons testing positive for COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 3.3x greater
Risk of unvaccinated persons dying from COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 32.9x greater
Data reported by the New York Times show the cumulative number of COVID-19-related deaths in the state on Jan 2 as 9,210.

The cumulative total of confirmed cases for Old Lyme has now increased by 241 since Wednesday, Nov. 10, when the total stood at 443 — that number had stood unchanged for a week since the previous Thursday, Nov. 4.

On Aug. 26 — which was the day Lyme-Old Lyme Schools started the new academic year — Old Lyme’s cumulative case total stood at 372, meaning there have now been 312 new cases there since that date. Meanwhile, Lyme’s cumulative total on Aug. 26 was 114 indicating 61 new cases have also been confirmed there during the same period.

In an email sent Thursday, Dec. 30, regarding the latest COVID-19 data, Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) Director of Health Stephen Mansfield stated, “We continue to see a high number of new COVID cases within our jurisdiction, which is consistent with an increase in COVID cases statewide. Unfortunately, we expect this trend to continue as we move into the holiday season.”

He added, “LLHD continues to focus our vaccination efforts on homebound populations and providing initial vaccinations and boosters to individuals who were vaccinated previously. Information about vaccination opportunities can be found at https://llhd.org/coronavirus-covid-19-situation/covid-19-vaccine/

*COVID-19 Cases in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools

This is the latest information that we have with the most recent cases first — there may have been further updates, however, which we have not yet received.

On Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser reported in an email to the school community, “Today we became aware of the following [14] individuals who tested positive after being present at school. At the elementary level, where students are in cohorts, the classrooms are identified by the teacher’s last name: LOLHS- 6, Mile Creek- 1 (Herel), Lyme- 3 (Tartisel, Sobus, McDermott) and Center-4 (Mullaney’s PM class, Miles)

On Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, Neviaser informed the school community that the administration had been made aware of “four individuals at Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) and one individual in the Center School 3-year old PK classroom, who tested positive after being present at school.”

On Thursday, Dec. 23, Neviaser informed the school community that two positive cases of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS, a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS) and a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.

On Tuesday, Dec. 21, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS) had been reported.

On Monday, Dec. 20, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) had been reported.

On Thursday, Dec. 16, Neviaser informed the school community that two separate positive cases of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS and Lyme School respectively had been reported.

On Monday, Dec. 13, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.

On Thursday, Dec. 9, Neviaser informed the school community that a total of three positive cases of COVID-19 impacting Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS), Center School, and Lyme School respectively had been reported.

On Monday, Dec. 6, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLMS had been reported.

On Friday, Dec. 3, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Center School had been reported.

On Monday, Nov. 30, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Monday, Nov. 29, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.

On Tuesday, Nov. 23, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Monday, Nov. 22, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Mile Creek School had been reported.

On Thursday, Nov. 18, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Wednesday, Nov. 17, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Sunday, Nov. 14, Neviaser informed the school community that over the weekend a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Wednesday, Oct. 20, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Wednesday, Oct. 5, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported the previous evening.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, Neviaser informed the school community of two intrafamilial positive cases of COVID-19 impacting LOLMS. He stated, “We were able to complete our contact tracing and the one individual who must quarantine has been notified.”

On Thursday, Sept. 23, Neviaser informed the school community of two intrafamilial positive cases of COVID-19 impacting LOLMS. He noted, “We were able to complete our contact tracing and the one individual who must quarantine has been notified.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 22, Neviaser informed the school community of a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS.

On Thursday, Sept. 16, Neviaser informed the school community that a previously reported positive case of COVID-19 is now impacting Mile Creek School and Center School.

On Monday, Sept. 13, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19, which had been reported the previous day, was impacting LOLMS.

On Wednesday, Sept. 1, Neviaser informed the school community that a positive case of COVID-19 was impacting Mile Creek School.

On Tuesday, Aug. 31, Neviaser informed the school community that late on Monday, Aug. 30, a positive case of COVID-19 impacting LOLHS had been reported.

On Saturday, Aug. 28, Neviaser informed the school community that late on Friday, Aug. 27, a positive case of COVID-19 impacting Lyme School had been reported.

In all cases in 2021, contact tracing was completed and those individuals who needed to quarantine were notified. They were able to return to school following their quarantine period. All other students and staff continued to attend school as scheduled.

Fatalities Due to COVID-19 in Lyme, Old Lyme

There has been one COVID-related fatality of a Lyme resident: a 57-year-old male passed away Nov. 16, 2021. On Nov. 30, the state finally included this fatality in its data

Three COVID-related fatalities have been reported in Old Lyme. The first two fatalities from Old Lyme, which were reported in 2020, were a 61-year-old female and an 82-year-old male.

Details of the third, which was reported in 2021, have not been made available.

Jan. 4 COVID-19 Update: Five New Cases in Old Lyme Take Cumulative Total to 659, One New Case in Lyme Raises Total There to 171

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Olwen Logan

LYME-OLD LYME — The Daily Data Report issued Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, at 4 p.m. by the Connecticut Department of Health (CT DPH) shows five new, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Old Lyme taking the town’s total of cumulative cases to 659.

One new case was reported in Lyme, taking that town’s cumulative total to 171.

The state hit a new COVID-19 positivity rate in the Jan. 4 report of 23.85% and COVID-related hospitalizations increased by 110 to 1,562.

Significantly, 1062 (representing 68.0%) of those hospitalized are not fully vaccinated.

To give context to the state’s positivity rate of 21.52% on Jan. 3, 2022, an article by Alex Putterman published in the Hartford Courant on Dec. 28, 2021, reported that, “Connecticut blew past its previous record for COVID-19 positivity rate … for a daily rate of 14.98%. Previously, the state hadn’t reported a positivity rate higher than 11% on any given day since widespread testing began in spring 2020.”

The next report from CT DPH will be issued Wednesday, Jan. 5, at around 4 p.m.

The CT DPH will issue an updated map of the zones Thursday, Jan. 6 — the map is updated weekly on Thursdays.

All the towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) are in the Red Zone.

Under new state protocols for schools, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools are no longer required to carry out contact tracing , but LOL Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser said in an email to the school community yesterday that he, “… will continue to notify the school community of any positive cases of COVID-19 that impact the schools.” closed Dec. 23, 2021 and reopened Monday, Jan. 3, 2022 after the winter break meaning no new cases were reported by the schools during that period.

Yesterday, Tuesday, Jan. 4, Neviaser reported in the same email, “Today we became aware of four individuals at LOLHS and one individual in the Center School 3-year old PK classroom who tested positive after being present at school.”

*See below for a full listing of all LOL Schools-related cases since schools opened in the fall on Aug. 26, 2021.

Here are some significant extracts from the Dec. 30 CT DPH report:

As of Dec. 29, 2021:

Number of cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 58,212
Number of fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut: 2,513,612
Percent of fully vaccinated persons, who have contracted COVID-19: 2.32%
Of the 1,151 patients currently hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, 619 (71.2%) are not fully vaccinated.

For the week beginning Dec. 19, 2021:

Risk of unvaccinated persons testing positive for COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 3.3x greater
Risk of unvaccinated persons dying from COVID-19 as compared to fully vaccinated persons: 32.9x greater
Data reported by the New York Times show the cumulative number of COVID-19-related deaths in the state on Jan 2 as 9,210.

The cumulative total of confirmed cases for Old Lyme has now increased by 216 since Wednesday, Nov. 10, when the total stood at 443 — that number had stood unchanged for a week since the previous Thursday, Nov. 4.

On Aug. 26 — which was the day Lyme-Old Lyme Schools started the new academic year — Old Lyme’s cumulative case total stood at 372, meaning there have now been 287 new cases there since that date. Meanwhile, Lyme’s cumulative total on Aug. 26 was 114 indicating 57 new cases have also been confirmed there during the same period.

*COVID-19 Cases in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools

This is the latest information that we have with the most recent case first — there may have been further updates, however, which we have not yet received.

On Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser informed the school community that the administration had been made aware of “four individuals at Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) and one individual in the Center School 3-year old PK classroom, who tested positive after being present at school.”