Eat Your Vegetables!

For my birthday back in February, my lovely girlfriend B surprised me with a couple "food" themed gifts. The first gift was a cooking class for us at Whole Foods (I'll blog about that some other time). The second gift was a 5.5 quart Le Creuset French Pot. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving!

Since I've gotten this enamel-coated-cast iron-cooking vessel, I have been on a one pot meal whirlwind... There's nothing like a bowl of hearty chili, aromatic and chuncky vegatable soup, or meaty-rich bolognaise to fight off the cold, grey Seattle winter. And each of the three things I just listed off is extremely easy to make. All you need is a large pot, easy to attain ingredients, and some time for the soup to simmer.

In reading over other's food blogs, I've learned it's bad form to blog about a tasty dish without leaving a recipe to share... So to follow the proper etiquette, I am giving you my "recipe" for Spencer's-super-simple-vegatable soup. Enjoy!

As I've mentioned already, this soup is really easy. You don't neeed any fancy ingredients, and anything I've listed below can be removed or supplemented. In fact, I've started calling this recipe my "clean out the fridge" soup since it works with any veggies you have. A couple tips to keep in mind - 1) if you can dice everything around the same size, it'll cook more evenly. (But even then, if you can simmer the soup for a while, you'll be fine.) 2) This soup is really flexible. You can add meat (chicken, beef), grains (brown rice orbarley), pasta (orzo works great)... Whatever you like can be thrown in the pot. Don't be afraid to experiment!

Ingredients-

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3-4 carrots- diced
• 3-4 celery stalks- diced
• 1 medium/large onion- diced
• Any other veggies (yellow squash, cucumber, green beans, etc) - diced
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 quart low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 28 oz can of tomatoes (any type of cut will work. I prefer crushed for this soup, but if you like more chucks, diced or hand crushed whole tomatoes work too)
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• Water (optional)

Take a large pot and heat it to medium high. Add olive oil (more if you like the flavor or have a stainless steel pot). Add all the diced carrots, celery, and onion to the pot, and cook until soft. Add the salt and pepper to season. This should take about 8-10 minutes. (If you have softer veggies, feel free to add them after 5 or 6 minutes.) Also, browning is great, but don't burn the veggies.

Once the veggies are soft, add the remaining ingredients. Depending on how much broth you like in your soup, feel free to add more water. As you simmer the soup, it'll reduce and the flavors will begin to blend. Simmer the soup for at least 30 minutes, with the pot partially covered. As it nears that time, start tasting and season accordingly. Whenever the soup gets to the level of broth you desire, ladle it up and serve!

(serves 4-6)

Defining Scope

Being a project manager, I've often had to define the "scope" of a project or work effort. This usually entails meeting with my customer (the person paying for the project) and addressing what type of work should be included in the project. This blog is no different. Let me explain.

I mentioned in my previous post of having plenty of things to write about. However, one of the things I've been debating when it comes to this blog is what exactly to blog about. Part of me thinks I only should to focus on a specific topic or two. But the other half doesn't think I have enough material, know-how, or (frankly) the discipline to do so. Come to think of it, I really haven't even decided on my philosophy of how to use this medium. Do I treat the blog as a journal of sorts, or that of a random stream of conciousness (much like twitter on steroids)?

Having said that, there are a few topics that I anticipate writing about in the future. These include my thoughts and observations on leaving WaMu and the subsequent job search, food/eating/cooking, and travel. All of this will be sprinkled with photographs when applicable (and probably even when it's not).

So what do you think? Any suggestions for how I should approach my writing philosophy? Any ideas of what you would like to see on this site? If so, leave a comment below. Thanks!

Chasing popcorn dreams...

Have you ever thought to yourself "I really think I could/should... "? And I don't mean things like "I really should do my laundry/get a haircut/ walk the dog." What I mean is that a desire forms within you to do something a bit more grandiose than your regular, typical, everyday things. Things like run a marathon, or become a chef, or accomplish a feat worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records. Well, I do. I think most of the time it's a fleeting notion, a temporary moment of wishful thinking. And then, just like that, it's forgotten.

Well for me, over the past few months, I've been asking and pondering this question quite a bit. The reason is that my time with WaMu is coming to an end in July. People have begun to ask me "What do you want to do after you're done?". And honestly, I don't know. But like corn kernels in a hot pan, ideas have been popping in my head. Thanks to my severance and a nice transition package, I'm in a very fortunate position of being in financially stable for a few months after July. Plus like thousands of other laid off workers, I also will begin to collect unemployment insurance. All of this is to say that I have the means (and opportunity) to actually pursue some of my "popcorn dreams"...

Recently there have been two things in particular that have been constantly resurfacing in the shallows of my noggin. One is to continue the pursuit of one of my life goals -- to set foot on each of the seven continents. And the second is to be published, whether a book or an article.

To address the latter, with this blog, I have decided to try to take the first step towards “formal” writing, and join the 21st century by jumping on the blogging bandwagon. To be honest, I do not consider this blog to be a formal publishing, but it's a start. A brief history on my writing credentials: I really have none. (Well, except for the random one sentence quote I had in Esquire magazine. But I don't count that.) In school, I took the customary required English courses and did all right. Being the stereotypical Asian, math and sciences were my strong suit. Post college, I began to travel extensively for work, both abroad and domestically. To help keep in touch with friends and family, I would send updates via email sharing my experiences and observations of the locales that I visited. Feedback on my emails seemed to be good, and I was encouraged by others to write more. But in my mind, I always waved the praise away, like someone shooing away a buzzing insect. Nonetheless, the seed was planted, and since that time, I occasionally wonder “What if?”… I am not sure where this blogging vehicle will take me, but I suppose only time will be able to answer that question.

As for the former, I am excited to share that I am actively pursuing that goal as well. Currently, I have visited four of the seven continents: Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. And as this past Thursday, I've booked a trip to the next two -- South America (Argentina) and Antarctica! I will be heading down south this December. I know, it's still nine months away, but visiting the Great White South can only be a seasonal trip. Instead of braving the drastically frigid winter (I'll leave that to the Emperor penguins), I'll be visiting in the perpetual daylight of their summer months. And although I have expectations of seeing abundant wildlife and the epic blues of thousands of years old ice, my main expectation is that everything will be more intense that I could imagine.

Assuming that I actually stay committed to this blogging thing, I envision over the next few months, I'll be combining the two aforementioned goals, and blogging about the preparation (and eventual taking) of my southernly adventure. I look forward to sharing this experience with you all. And of course, I'll probably be writing about other miscellanious popcorn dreams along the way too. Between trip planning, the upcoming job search, and some photographs sprinkled throughout, I should have plenty to share, right?

In the Beginning...

Why have I started a blog? Perhaps it's the techno geek in me, or maybe the small part of me that wants to add my little voice into the large ocean of data that we call the Internet. Or perhaps it's the ability to voice whatever thought that is running thru my head at a particular moment. Regardless, here I am, in front of my pc, starting this voyage of written ramblings. For the moment at least. We'll see what I can do with this new found power in the upcoming days. Will I be faithful to it, posting thoughts constantly, or will I fade into the nothingness, only to return sporadically at random whim? Only time will tell... And with this one simple click, I begin my journey into this cyberspace rabbit hole.