Chowdah

Ah, back to routine.This week is the annualconference, the time when every company that is even slightly tech related ships half of their employees to Vegas for a week of gambling, drinking, and general carousing, with one or two meetings thrown in as an alibi.Flights sell out a month prior, hotels sell out in August (except for the ones that rent hourly rather than nightly), throngs of people choke up the streets and buffets.If you hate Vegas on a regular week, this week turns Sin City into your personal hell.

My boss hates Vegas.I know this because he texts me about how much he hates it approximately 6 times per day at CES each year.I feign sympathy whilst enjoying the perks of a less-crowded office; the quieting of usual chatter, the freedom to actually get ahead of my workload instead of being constantly buried, the green tea staying in stock past Wednesday.

In keeping with the theme of taking it easy, I've been on a soup kick lately.This Sunday I whipped up a batch of vegetable chowder, a thick creamy soup to warm me up in this chilly weather.Plus there's veggies in it, so it's healthy, duh.




That's good chowdah.



VEGGIE CHOWDER

Chop up 1/2 cup leeks, 2 T minced garlic, 2 carrots, 4 celery stalks, and about 4 medium-small red potatoes.I know that's not a real size, but whatever, it's your soup, use as much potato as you want, I ain't judging.I keep my celery, carrots and potatoes chopped the same size for consistency.

Throw all that stuff in a big pot with some buttah and sautit a bit.Add in some spices- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon dried dill, 1/2 tablespoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard.Add in 3 cups chicken stock and 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari, bring to a boil, and let it simmer until the veggies are soft, about 15-20 minutes.

Once the veggies are soft, add in 1/2 cup frozen peas and 1/2 cup frozen corn, stir that up and add in 1/2 pint of heavy cream (a little more than a cup, I'd guess, good lord, it's cream, don't be stingy with it).Or regular milk with a couple of tablespoons of flour whisked in, if you are a weenie. Let that simmer until everything is hot, the wilt in a couple of handfuls of fresh chopped spinach.I highly advise against using frozen spinach here, go big with the fresh or go home.

Taste that soup, season with extra salt and pepper and adjust the spices as needed.I added in about 1/3 cup of for a little faux-cheesy flavor and added nutrition.Serve with shredded cheddar and scallions sprinkled on top if you are feeling fancy.This tastes even better the second day.

While getting dinner on the table, AP found that we had an empty can of Diet Dr. Pepper in our 12-pack.It was fully sealed, yet contained no precious Dr. P.OUTRAGE!!!!



WTF???



After further examination, it seems that there was a minuscule leak on the bottom of the can.The soda must have drained at the factory or something.You owe me 78 cents, Dr. Pepper company!
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