2007, snow, and soup

Happy New Year all!

Yesterday, I took the Bear out to the natural lands at St. Olaf to get in some much-needed romping. We got to the far side of Skoglund Pond when it started raining... brr... It was definitely mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful, and I had a very happy dirty corgi. I figured since we were already as wet and muddy as we could get, I'd take her to the soccer fields, too, where she went bonkers. I think she was pretending to be a herding dog, running crazy frantic circles around imaginary cattle. She had a great time!

But later in the afternoon, it started to snow... So we went back up to campus to visit Chris and see how things were going, and then we both took Win back to the soccer fields for some snowy romping. The above picture is from my camera phone. She is still tuckered out today :-)

I was very happy with how the soup turned out! I have a few alterations to the recipe, though:
-they severely underestimate the amount of time it takes for the veggies and barley to cook. The recipe said it takes about 10 minutes for the barley, but I'd give it at least half an hour, but really closer to an hour to get nice and soft.
-more barley! Chris kept adding more, so I think we ended up with almost a cup more than the recipe called for.
-it's really hard to skim the fat off the top of the soup while it's still warm. It's easier to just not worry about it for the first serving, but skim it off after you've refrigerated the soup for a while.
-the recipe doesn't tell you how much water to add... we started with 7 cups, then added more as it boiled off.

Mmm, soup...

Today is January 1st, which marks 3 1/2 years for Chris and I. How should we celebrate?