Mid-Week Rambling...

I was going to blog tonight. I was going to post a few pictures of recent fun nights with friends, and share some snippets of what's new around here. But then I decided I needed to link up to Pinterest and Instagram. And I spent at least 15 or 20 minutes playing around online until I figured out how I wanted it to look. See those new little icons over to the right? --->

It all started because I made some freaking delicious soup for dinner. It was a recipe Joe and I found online, and it blew our expectations out of the water. So as we were dishing up our servings, I decided I should instagram this perfect dinner. Then, once I ate a little, I was totally sold. I told Joe I needed to pin it, so I would remember it for future reference. Then, I realized I hasn't shared any recipes on here in a while, so I decided I should blog about this lovely soup. And that lead me to decide I needed to link Pinterest and Instagram to this here blog. So, here we are. (A bit reminiscent of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie", don't you think?)

This soup was great. Hearty and warming on a freezing cold Chicago January night, but still really healthy. I tossed in a Parmesan cheese rind for extra flavor, but otherwise followed the recipe as it was written. I think mashing half the beans helped give the soup a creamy texture, and infusing the broth with rosemary and garlic really made the flavor stand out. This is a recipe I can guarantee will make at least a couple more visits to our kitchen before this spring. It wasn't too complicated for a weeknight, either... so overall, I'd declare it a win!

In other news...

I'm reading a Movable Feast, and it's making me reeeeaaaaly want to visit Paris again.

Next week I have a two day conference at work, which will include my first actual professional development in Human Resources. I'm kind of turning into an HR professional, and that's exciting!

I love Chicago, but winter here can suck. I like to beg Joe to get a job in California, but he's yet to be convinced.

I'm off Friday this week, so I just have to push through one more day before I get a day off. Getting weekdays off work is the upside of the crazy retain schedule that I work at my job. Not too bad, most of the time!

That's it for now. Happy Hump day everyone!