cravings.

my new favorite tea.

apples. crunchy and not too sweet, but not too sour. Macintosh are the choice these days.

sun maid raisins. :) Childhood favorite.

and SOUP! any kind. all I want is soup. :P

I made an awesome corn chowder the other day, and it was a hit! I made a huge pot, and it was gone before 24 hours were up. My sister in law shared her recipe with me, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind me sharing it with you all. It's a great soup to make with the chillier days among us.

2 tbsp butter
olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves (I use garlice powder)
6 sprigs fresh thyme (I use thyme powder)
1/4 c. flour
6 cups canned vegetable stock
2 cups cream
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
6 ears corn (I used 2 cans of corn)
s and p
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Heat the butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and thyme and cook until the vegetables are good and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour and stir to coat everything well. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream and the potatoes, bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down. Cut the corn kernels off the cob and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in the parsley and give it another little drink of olive oil. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

mmmmm.

I also posted an afghan pattern on the Red Velvet blog yesterday, if you're interested.

(see how Simon's foot made the photo..lol)

I'm only a small portion complete, but I'll be posting my progress on wednesdays on the RVA Blog. :)

Wonderful things to note about today:

-the sun is finally shining!

-I woke up to a shining clean house! (thanks Mom!!)

-I had my maternal physical today and got to hear the baby's heart beating. He/she kicked the monitor a bunch of times too, making me giggle. Hearing those sounds remind me that there is something living inside me, and why this is all worth it.

-belated Thanksgiving dinner with the best of friends. :)

-relaxing with tea and New Moon.

-starting new knitting projects

it's nice to think about the wonderful things.

XO holly

Ps: my mom e-mailed me this video today, it's pretty cool. :) How fun would it be to be in that crowd?!