January 22

Linda Denise Blair's Birthday
 


Linda Blair began working as a model when she was five years old. and was featured in ads for Downey fabric softener, Welch's grape jam, and Ivory soap. After a short soap opera stint, she graduated to the big screen as the perennial victim., such as in Born Innocent (1974) where she was raped with a broom handle in the shower in Sweet Hostage (1975 ), she was kidnapped by escaped lunatic .

However,  Linda is best known for her iconic role as the reen vomit-spewing,Regan, in The Exorcist (1973) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award  But her chances for the Academy Award went South when it was revealed that not only had the she  been extensively doubled by a dummy, and that her frightening Satanic voice and obscenities had been dubbed by Mercedes McCambridge.

It soon  became well-known that pea soup was actually used for the vomiting sequences. Linda later recalled, "We would do screen tests for the pea soup, and I got to vomit on the first assistant director, who wore rain gear. That was very funny."

Based on word-of mouth, tens of thousands of people lined up for tickets and forced  its opening it of more hundreds more screens. Screen history was made when hundreds of  people fainted,  vomited when Regan vomited, and cursed back at the screen when Regan cursed.
 

Linda continued acting  in mostly forgettable  girl-in- crisis films and TV roles,  In 2008 she turned up at the 18th annual Malaga Fantasy and Horror Film Festival to accept a lifetime achievement award for her work in the horror genre. She  has become an animal rights activist and humanitarian, working with PETA, Feed The Children, Variety, the Children's Charity, and other organizations. Blair also devotes time to her non-profit organization, the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, which works to rescue abused, neglected, and mistreated animals. She is a vegan, and has coauthored the book Going Vegan!.

So what do you serve a vegan on her birthday that became a screen-legend for her vomiting sequences in The Exorcist? There is only one choice - Green Pea Vegan Soup.


 

 Green Pea Vegan Soup

 

Ingredients
 
1 lb peas (fresh or frozen)
2 bunches spring onions
One head lettuce, roughly chopped
2&1/2 cups white wine
 		 2 TB butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
 
Instructions
 
1. Trim and slice the spring onions. Soften them by heating in butter in a pan for three minutes.
2  Add wine, peas, roughly chopped lettuce, sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
    Simmer for roughly5   minutes.
3. Cool slightly and then put through a blender.

Serves 3-4

© 2011 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes