Winding Down......Easy Split Pea Soup (Week 49)

It is nearing the end of my first semester in the doctoral program and I truly appreciate all of my followers (Gawd....that has a bad ring to it....sort of Jim Jones-ish) hanging in while I struggle through the last of my posts for the calendar year.  I feel like the guy in Chariots of Fire.....running in slow motion.

So, dear friends, let me tell you about my Tuesday night dinner......

Monday is my class day.  Thank you Pha (I think) for bringing in the Mexican munchies and Nancy for the really delicious chocolate cake.  Eating in class makes things SO much better.  Even better was the massive appetizer plate of Mexican goodies (lots of fried goodies and cheese!).....it's sort of "guilt free" at this point.  I was feeling like I was run over by a freight train that night.....struggling to fight off a head cold.  Amanda (sitting next to me was also sick and shared her zinc drops - thanks - I owe you).  My thought Tuesday morning was to SLEEP and try to get better (rather than to slide down in to the abyss of illness right before a massive paper was due).

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.......

I slept till 8:15 am when the phone started ringing (questions from the dean's office):  I gave up and got coffee and thought I'd work a bit on my big team project (affectionately known as the "Stinking Elementary Case Study").  Text messages started to appear.....a deaf faculty member with a ton of questions about an event on Friday followed by the dean's assistant needing a (don't laugh.....this shows the importance of my job and my role here at Fresno State) Jib-Jab birthday greeting for the Associate Dean!  I am SOOOOOOO needed!

It was now Noon and I still wasn't sleeping nor was I working on my paper.  The a donor called......refusing to do something she had agreed to do (long story) which required me to "negotiate" with a stuffy nose (very effective).

Somewhere about 10ish, I went downstairs and through together Split Pea Soup.....I was in need of COMFORT FOOD in the worst way.  If this didn't work.....I was going to call my Mommy!

Here ya go:

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped peeled carrots

1 1/2 pounds left over ham from Thanksgiving (still whole with the bone and the fat - I was lazy)

2 teaspoons dried leaf marjoram

1 1/2 cups green split peas

1 packet of vegetable "flavor booster" (Swanson's I think)

lots of sea salt, cracked pepper and a few dashes of hot sauce

8 cups water

I literally threw it all in to the crock pot, switched it on high and walked away.....with a heavy sigh!

I then spent the next 6 hours fighting with this program called EndNote (it does citations) which decided that it wanted to "do its own thing" -- I went through 5 different versions, 7 "shut downs" through the task manager until I heard "Honey...I'm home!"

I plodded down stairs, shoulders slumped, heaving ragged breathes and flopped on to the bed "It's been one of THOSE days.....I think I need to throw my shoes. (The shoe throwing thing, in our house, is associated with loosing it over academic research and writing). I think dinner is ready."

It was......WONDERFUL!  Steaming hot, served with warm crusty La Brea sourdough bread.  Everything was now right with the world.