What's in the pot?

Friday, May 30th here's what's cooking:

I decided to try my hand at making tomato paste, I have a lot of uses for it and its just not available here in Dushanbe, while the locals make their own version its often cut with vinegar to preserve it.

1 kg of tomatoes, cored and peeled and blended sitting in a large shallow pan at 3oo degrees. Every 5 minutes or so I scrape the pan to keep it from burning and to separate the solids, at least that's what I think I'm doing. Credit here goes to Derrick Schneider at An Obsession with Food for the recipe.
http://www.obsessionwithfood.com/2005_09_01_blog-archive.html#112718849211970151

On the stove I've got a pot of bean soup, all from scratch. I had some beans left over from making chili the other night. The base for the soup is from Bitten's book "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian". We brought a seasoned cast iron pan with us from the states and to make the base I cut up onions (quartered with the skins left on), potatoes, carrots, and garlic, and whatever fresh vegetables I have around. Cook them in olive oil until they've browned, add Braggs, water, and fresh parsley, and then strain it and keep the liquid, makes a great base for just about any soup.

Also, on the stove is a pot of Chickpeas for tomorrow's brunch, where I'll be making Chickpeas in their own broth Catalan style, also from Bitten's book.