Back to Work and a Recipe

My nine wonderful work-days on vacation have come to an end. While I have enjoyed the time off, I have missed my friends at work and I'm excited to see them. I'm working tomorrow while Mom and Dad take care of a few things in Nashville then we'll all go home for the weekend. My car is in Florence, so I definitely want to go get it!!

While we were at the condo I made chicken and rice soup and it turned out pretty well. I didn't use any measurements, but since Dad liked it to much, I wanted to try to write down a recipe. I was trying to make something like the soup served at Demo's. I made it thicker and creamier than their soup which I remember as being thinner and "brothier".

These are guesses of measurements, but it's the best I can do.

3/4 stick butter
1 cup flour
3 cups rice
2 bottles Swanson's chicken stock
4 cups milk
1 rotisserie chicken, diced
3 packages Italian dressing mix
2 tbs. cayenne pepper
2 tbs. black pepper
1 tsp. kosher salt

I started off making a roux to thicken the liquids in the soup. After that finished, I added about half of the milk and allowed that to thicken. Then I added one bottle of stock and continued to heat until almost boiling. I used a Crock-Pot for this soup (limited pots and pans at the condo), so I pre-heated it and then added the thickened liquid and then the rice to the pot. I then added the skinless, diced chicken and the spices. I then added the remaining stock and enough milk to get the soup to the right consistency. This cooked on high for about two hours and then was ready to serve.

My Dad loved the soup (I added the extra pepper for him--he likes spicy food). He said he thought he liked it better than my homemade pizza. He loves the pizza so much that we had that on Christmas Day since it was just for the three of us. To make a long story short, if it's his favorite meal, that's saying something since he will happily eat anything I make and has suggested I open a restaurant! :)

Christmas #1

Uncle Mark came to Florence today, so Christmas #1 is officially in the books!

It was an absolutely crazy morning with wrapping gifts, cleaning and cooking (plus a migraine or really bad tension headache), but we managed to get all the essentials finished in time. We opted out of the traditional Christmas meal this year since there were only four of us today (and because I really don't like leftovers--like Grams). I planned to make Grams' cake with cooked chocolate icing in addition to banana pudding (Uncle Mark's favorite), but I didn't make the icing until after he left. More for us, I guess!!

We opened gifts and I was quite spoiled. I absolutely hate to iron, so I got a professional grade steamer. The girls at work won't let me by if I wear something not perfectly pressed anymore! I also got a stainless steel garbage can for my kitchen. I've wanted one since I moved in since I have to have it out in the open, but I never broke down to get it. My favorite gift has to be the 2012 Southern Living Annual Cookbook. I can't wait to make several things in the cookbook!

Since Uncle Mark was here, I decided to take advantage of his photography skills and Emma and I had a mini-photoshoot. Here are a few of my favorites...

Still Christmas Shopping

I thought I finished nearly all of my Christmas shopping back in November...before trips for work and fun, before Thanksgiving.  I thought I was so ahead of the curve and I was so proud that all of my gifts were wrapped in brown craft paper and tied with various grosgrain ribbons and looked like something out of Martha Stewart Living.

I knew there was ONE gift left to buy, but little did I know, there were MANY more to buy.  I took care of what I thought was my last gift last Saturday in Florence, but I was sorely mistaken.  Mom and I bought a few more things that day and then I've placed three separate orders with Amazon this week including one this morning.  It's a good thing I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime, otherwise I nothing I ordered would arrive in time and I'd have to venture to a brick and mortar store...the horror!! :)

Now, I have at least 12 more gifts to wrap, so I guess the leftover craft paper will be going to Florence with me.  I bought three big rolls and didn't even use all of one (way more on a roll than I expected), so I guess my over-shopping is actually useful since I don't need more wrapping paper.  I think I have ribbon left over, but I'm not positive...it has been more than a month since I've wrapped all the first batch of gifts! :)  I think some gifts might not get ribbon if it saves me a trip to Hobby Lobby at this time of year!

Sing, Sing, Sing

Today was our choir's cantata in Florence. I'm so glad I was able to learn the music well enough from the CD and my two measly practices at home so I could sing with this super-talented group! We had handbells, a children's choir, a youth choir, a full orchestra as well as the adult choir. It was definitely a powerful feeling to perform with all of these talented musicians. Even though staying for the second performance made for a long night driving back to Nashville, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I find myself laughing more than at any other time when I'm with people from this choir and I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to sing with them for TEN (eek) years!!

There's no place like home!

After ten days away from my house, I am so happy to finally be back. There really is no place like home...except my other home in Florence! :)

Q Center Woes

It's after midnight and I can't sleep. It's just part of another wonderful day at the Q Center. Or not...

I've been here for three night now and this is the first night I absolutely cannot sleep. I think I still needed to catch up from Disney the first two nights. Now, I'm just hot, claustrophobic and bored. Plus, I almost fell asleep earlier, but almost rolled off my twin bed which certainly got me awake.

The rooms here are tiny. I've tried to upload a picture I found on the Internet that is of a similar room. It's clean, but tiny. My dorm room at Auburn was double the size of my "closet" here. Also, the thermostats don't seem to work since my room is approximately 80° right now. I am very cold-natured and like warm rooms, but this is taking it a bit overboard.

It's not easy to leave the compound since we're an hour away from Chicago and finding a taxi is not the easiest thing. We ate deep dish pizza at Gino's East on Monday night and that was certainly the highlight of my trip. Now, I'm just looking forward to the limo ride that will take me to Midway and eventually home.

I've decided this experience is very similar to being in a minimum-security, white-collar Federal prison. I've got some space to roam (only on campus), hot meals (not of my choosing) and a bedroom (although small and cell-like). I've got an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia and I can't wait to be back in Nashville. I know this sounds melodramatic, but I've never been to another place that I dislike so much.

I'm hoping for better and more interesting training tomorrow and maybe another trip off campus tomorrow night. Thank goodness I'm not here alone and have work friends to spend time with while we're here!

Long time, no blog...

Oh my, it's been a long time since I've updated. I want post about my Christmas decorations and my awesome trip to Disney, but for now I really need to pay attention in my continuing education classes. I'm at a training center about an hour and a half from Chicago and so far I'm about bored to death--only four hours in!

We're (four other from work and myself) are going to eat pizza at Gino's East tonight, so I'll try to take a picture of the yummy pizza we order. That's the highlight of the trip for me!!

I'll try to catch up soon, I promise!