Ode to a Decade

10. Double digits. A decade.

Today is our anniversary and as I reflect on the past 10 years of marital bliss I inevitably reflect on all of the lost hairs, gray hairs, sleepless nights, lazy mornings and every moment in between.

Ours is not the kind of romance you read about in books or professional blogs or dream of in movies. Our love is not fueled by candlelit bubble baths, fancy restaurants, or dress-up-and-go-out-on-the-town dates. We don't write love poems, or letters (maybe the occasional love text) or go out on a limb with big romantic gestures.

So what does it take to forge our special brand of romance? A husband that knows his wife needs 9 hours of sleep to be civil and a wife that knows her husband needs to watch sports. All of them.

Our love story is written on the pages that are piled high on every horizontal surface in our house because we are terrible at staying organized. He sweeps me off of my feet by vacuuming or overlooking that ever-growing pile of clothes I seem to always have by my side of the bed. The way to his heart is to have snacks on hand for our lazy weekends and to just be happy.

Our rhythm doesn't come from dancing the night away. Our rhythm comes from years of small, cramped bathrooms and trying not to spit toothpaste on the other's head during our bedtime routine.

We have travelled the world together and have seen some of the most beautiful places known to man but my very favorite place is wherever he is. I don't need a fancy girl's nights out to refuel and refocus, I need a night in cuddled on the couch with my man. Preferably watching an action movie.

He surprises me with flowers once or twice a year because he knows that I don't really need that. I try to make sure he always has clean socks for work.

We were babies when we got married (19 and 23!) Over 1/3 of my life has been spent loving this man and growing into adulthood with him. We've been through the happiest moments a human can experience and dredged the depths of sorrow. Together.

He is mine and I am his. Forever. And to celebrate he is whisking me off to Lake Tahoe and leaving the baby with Grandma. There are a zillion things to do there but we plan to spend most of it holed up in the hotel sleeping, snacking and watching movies.

So, Happy Anniversary to a boy that knows to cheer me up with dark chocolate. From a girl that knows that special twinkle you get when you surprise yourself with a good joke.

Soup of the Week

I had ham and potatoes on hand. Searched recipes.com. This was the fastest. It was really yummy and super easy. We didn't eat it right way because a certain baby was in need of food first. It developed a lovely film on top so if you can, eat it immediately.

I didn't need to adapt anything. I didn't measure though, just kind of guessed. It was more like 2 stalks celery, half an onion and 2 potatoes. It worked.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
3 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
Directions

Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.

In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.

Soup of the Week

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups cubed fresh pumpkin
1 teaspoon fresh parsley
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
5 whole black peppercorns

Directions

-Cut pumpkin into 1/2-inch cubes.
-Heat stock, salt, pumpkin, onion, thyme, garlic, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.
-Puree the soup in small batches (1 cup at a time) using a food processor or blender.
-Return to pan and bring to a boil again. ---Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered.
-Stir in heavy cream.
-Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

Alterations

-I used one large can of pumpkin purée instead of fresh. Way less work.
-2 cloves of garlic instead of one.
-Topped with crispy turkey bacon and garlic bread on the side.

Here's my pumpkin! (Ignore the mouse pointer, the image is a stolen screen shot from the previews.)

Soup of the Week - Cream of Something Easy

This week's soup was from a can - 2 actually. We had just returned from a lovely long weekend in Prague to an empty fridge and had no desire (it was Sunday and we were tired) to go to the store or order in so I rummaged through the pantry and the freezer to see what I could concoct. I call these kinds of meals "food storage drills". It's a way to make myself feel less guilty for not going grocery shopping and like I'm doing something about my food storage - testing myself to see if I could cook a meal (or on one occasion a week's worth) with whatever happens to be shoved to the back of the pantry and freezer.

Anyway, what resulted was Herby Cream of Tomato-Mushroom

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of tomato soup (my least favorite of the cream soups)
2 cans hot water
half a small onion, chopped
oil
herbs and seasonings (I probably used mixed Italian herbs, garlic, celery salt and probably some other stuff)

Saute onion in oil until clear, stir in soups, water and seasonings, heat on low until hot and bubbly. I think I let mine simmer a bit to let the herbs work their magic.

We ate ours with grilled cheese sandwiches that I gourmet-ed up (sprinkle some sea salt and oregano on the cheese before you grill them and use nice, seedy bread).

The result was not bad, which is exactly what I was going for. Had I been feeling slightly more ambitious (read: not so tired) I would have used the last box of tomato puree and made my own tomato soup but that was one step too many at the moment. Plus I was then able to use that tomato puree in last night's food storage drill (tomato veggie lamb kebab curry with rice...?).

So next time you look in your empty fridge/pantry and think "what in the world can I make with this assortment of crap?" just add some onions and herbs and pretend you're at a fancy restaurant and only have enough money to order the cheapest things on the menu - soup and cheesy bread.