gym hiatus

I've vowed to stay off the treadmill until I no longer have a respiratory infection. well, I'm not positive that I have an infection per se, but I am still hacking stuff up, wheezing, and blowing my nose all the time.

breakfast this morning was not my usual greenie, but a boring piece of bread. I was starving by lunchtime, which came after I drove out to the mall to get a cakestand, offset spatula, and candy thermometer (which also doubles as an oil thermometer). I'm making a layer cake for Henry's second birthday. I've decided on chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and chocolate buttercream icing. yes, it's completely decadent! what can I say, the kid likes chocolate. plus, it's been an ambition of mine to get good at making layer cakes. this will be my first one.

I got lunch from the cafeteria once I was back at work.

it was my standard soup and salad lunch. this time I added a bit of brianna's poppyseed dressing to the beet portion of the container. there was some lettuce in there, but that was just for show. I barely ate any of it. I feel that I must get over my aversion to lettuce, but it's just so unappealing. the only way I like it these days is as a wrap for stuff. there isn't any salad dressing I like so much that makes me really want to eat lettuce. I think I od'd on salads in 2004.

last night we had my favorite split pea soup for dinner. here's a really bad photo of it. I swear it tastes so much better than it looks. plus, it's super easy to make.

here's how to make a yummy split pea soup:
one large onion, diced
3 or 4 large carrots, sliced into disks (or on the bias, or whatever) ~1/4" thick
3 stems celery, cut same thickness as carrots
16 oz. green split peas (or yellow), rinsed (pick out any weird looking items)
2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (only add salt after soup is finished)

- saute all of the vegetables until fairly well sweated
- add to crock pot (or soup pot) with split peas
- stir well
- add water to pot so that level is about 1.5 inches over the contents
if you're cooking it on the stovetop, bring the pot to a boil and skim off the scum that floats to the top (yeah, that sounds pleasant), then lower flame to simmer, stir well, and partially cover - cook until the peas turn to mush. finish by adding water to get the consistency you like.
- if you're using a crock pot, then put the setting to high for 3 hours, or so, then turn to low and let it stay on for a couple more hours. if you're away all day, put the setting on low & the soup should be finished when you get home.
- salt and pepper to taste. I find that the soup cooks better if you avoid salting it before it's cooked.