End of the Rainbow

Today, I learned that the end of the rainbow is a little house on our island.  Who would have thought? 

I wonder if there’s a pot of gold in the living room?

My Sweetheart

Those of you who have known me for any length of time know I’m pretty anti-Valentine’s Day.  It started out as a disgruntled single girl thing in high school.  By the time I had a Valentine of my own, I was totally over all the hoopla.
My husband knows me, and he knows how I feel about Valentine’s Day.  He knows I don’t want overpriced roses or candy (okay, I’ll take candy any day, so that’s not entirely true) or a cheesy Hallmark card.  So, he didn’t get me any of those things yesterday (except the candy, because he knows that chocolate equals brownie points).

I came home from teaching (that’s another post I just haven’t gotten around to lately) to a completely clean house and an adorable homemade card that included a mathematical proof that we belong together.  And chocolate.  He had also sent me an e-mail telling me that he would make dinner for me while I had evening office hours for my class.

When I came home from office hours, the table was set, food was prepared and he was dressed up in a nice shirt and pants.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, shared a bottle of wine and watched a movie.

Do I have a great husband or what?  He knew just what would make my day – a clean house, a good meal, and some snuggle time while watching a movie.  And chocolate.

Top it all off… he brought  me lunch after my class today.  He’s going to spoil me :).

Soup’s On!

Chris and I have been sick for most of the last two weeks.  Everything started in normal fashion with Chris bringing a cold home from work.  Usually, when this happens, I make soup for a week a try not to strangle my seriously whinny husband (ladies, you know exactly what I’m talking about).  This is usually the end of things.  I am usually fortunate enough to fend off whatever little germies Chris brings home.  Not this time.  This time, I got sick too.  Me getting sick usually isn’t too big of a deal, but you try teaching a class with no voice.  It’s hard!  We have both since recovered, but my fabulous new Dutch oven sure got a workout while we were on the mend.  Here a few of the highlights of my soup cooking extravaganza!

Chicken Noodle Soup (thank you Pioneer Woman!!)

 Tomato Parmesan (I made this on the stove instead of the slow cooker and it worked just fine)

Red Pepper Tomato

French Onion

I also had several requests for the Cream of Mushroom Soup I made for Christmas.  Here’s the recipe card. 



I got this recipe, as well as the Potato Corn Chowder recipe that follows, from a soup cooking class I took with a friend in Wichita.  We had a fantastic even learning to make soup from one of the chefs at our favorite little café.