Where has all the romance gone?

Soap operas are a part of me. Like many other soap opera fans, I got hooked as a child while watching them at grandma's house. As I grew older, it was especially hard for me when school started because I was no longer at home when As The World Turns and Guiding Light came on. In high school, I got my own TV, and I learned how to record shows. And that was the start of my full-fledged addiction. It got worse in the middle of high school when I got a laptop and discovered the online world of soap opera fandom. I spent most of 11th and 12th grade reading soap opera message boards and even making music videos of my favorite couples. I was pretty good at it actually; one time another online fan paid me $50 to make her a Zach and Kendall music video using her favorite song!!! Oh, and in 12th grade I also created a website dedicated to my favorite couples. It was intense. But when college came around, I realized I had a problem and gave up the obsessing. I still kept up with a soap opera here and there, though.

And that brings me to now. As you've most likely heard, ABC announced that it will be cancelling not one but two soap operas within the next year: All My Children and One Life to Live. This news hit me hard. That makes 4 cancellations of 40+ year-running soap operas in the last couple years. Now I've never watched One Life to Live regularly, but I did watch All My Children for 5 years. I owe All My Children in particular for creating my fictional soulmate: Zach Slater. The two soap operas I watched since childhood, As The World Turns and Guiding Light, were the other two cancelled in the last two years.

So I was home alone one night this week trying to find something to watch, and I suddenly felt compelled to watch the final week episodes of As The World Turns, which ended last September. When the last episode originally aired, I bawled. Not teared up. Not cried. I bawled, my mother with me (once a soap opera fan, always a soap opera fan). And when I watched the episodes again this week, I bawled even more. But this time I was crying for a different reason. It wasn't that I missed the characters and the town, even though I do. I was crying because I realized that the death of soap operas evidences the death of romance in society. Soap operas used to be THE thing to watch, especially in the 80s. "Luke and Laura's November 17th 1981 wedding brought in 30 million viewers; it remains the highest rated soap opera episode in American daytime television history. Elizabeth Taylor made a cameo appearance during the event, and Princess Diana reportedly sent champagne." What made soap operas so popular then? Romance. Romance where an exchanged intimate glance between a couple would set fans on fire. Tales in which it would be months before a couple shared their first kiss. Stories in which the dialogue was so sweet and tender, you didn't even want the couple to kiss because that would stop the beautiful words. But somehow between then and now, romance is no longer cool. It's called "cliche" or "melodramatic" and people roll their eyes at it. I don't date alot, but I see this trend of no-romance in my friends' love lives. There seems to be this trend, "Let's make-out alot, and then maybe we'll go on a date." And I've even seen both my guy and girl friends be creeped out by acts of romance (ex. compliments and picnics). I, the seemingly ultimate romantic, have even been affected: I once stopped seeing a guy because he wrote me a poem. Why have we all become so cynical?! So that is why I bawled while watching old soap opera episodes the other night. The world is changing for the worse. The more it changes the less likely I am to ever find love because I NEED romance, a slow romance, a sweet romance. So next time you see something sappy, don't scoff at it. Embrace it. Who knows how much longer we will have that "sap."

Below are some of my favorite soap opera clips of my favorite couples. I feel like all of them really epitomize the old romantic ways of soap operas. I dare you to watch and not enjoy them.

1) Paul and Rosanna, As The World Turns.


2) Lucky and Elizabeth, General Hospital


3) Buzz and Jenna, Guiding Light
Heartbreaking scene:


Fun scene:


4) Dusty and Lucy, As The World Turns

Recipe - Black Bean Burgers

I created this recipe several years ago, and it has become one of my most comforting dishes. It's hearty, savory, sweet...it has it all! It's a slightly sloppy burger, but I think that makes it more fun. My mom tells me that it is her favorite of my recipes, and she's not usually a black bean lover. And about the frozen plantains: these things are wonderful! So easy to use, and so sweet and delicious. HEB often carries them.

Makes 5-6 burgers

For burger:

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 package frozen GOYA Baked Ripe Plantains (or 1.5 plantains), sliced

3/4 tsp. chili powder

1/2 cup breadcrumbs, plus 1/4 cup for coating

2.5 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

salt

For garnish:

whole wheat hamburger buns

roasted poblano pepper, sliced*

onion, thinly sliced

lettuce

avocado, sliced

balsamic vinegar

cheddar cheese, sliced (optional)

Heat 1/2 Tbsp of the oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the plantains, and cook until the plantains are heated through and golden on each side (a couple minutes on each side). Add the black beans to the pan, and cook (stirring occassionaly) a couple minutes until the beans are heated.

Move the plantains and black beans to large mixing bowl, and mash the mixture with a potato masher. Add the chili powder, salt, and 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs to the plantain-bean mash.

Wipe down the pan to remove any plantain or bean residue. Heat the remaining 2 Tbsp of oil over medium heat in the pan. Form the mash-mixture into patties, coat with the additional breadcrumbs, and then place in pan. Cook several minutes on each side until the patties are golden.

*To roast a poblano pepper, turn a burner on your stove to medium-high and place the pepper directly on the burner. This works particularly well with an open-flame gas stove. Keep an eye on the pepper, turning it every couple of minutes, until a large majority of the pepper is charred. This WILL smell like something is burning; as the pepper chars it will make a popping sound. Then take the charred pepper and put it in a bowl with ice water. With your hands in the water, peel off the charred skin of the pepper. Then place the pepper on a chopping board. Remove the top and seeds of the pepper, and slice to desired thickness.