Today my Horoscope said:

You could be moving so fast today that you meet up with yourself coming back from where you're still going.

Most of the time I don't pay attention to the horoscope portion of my Google homepage, but what? This made no sense to me at 10AM this morning. When I am moving fast, I'm moving fast. Things get done, and done right. (Some mornings I think I should be a testimonial for 5-hour energy via a cup of Earl Grey tea.)

But today, I was working on an HTML email, a subject at which I am novice at best. The design of this email was a bit tricky, as we had more text than space... and the faster I worked to get everything straightened out, and the email "deployed" the more I realized it was never going to get done. But no! At 7pm I realized: Yes, it's almost there! Only to realize that it looked absolutely stupendous in one browser but more like a fragmented pile of text in another. I was devastated.

It was at that time that my boss told me to go home. So home I went. Along the way I met myself, who said, I told you so.

Zuppa di Polla

Today I decided to stay home, and in my bed till noon. Truth be told I was quite tired and decided that it would be best to work from home. Around 2:30 I had read each email and written a few of my own, so I elected to make a trip to the grocery store. I knew exactly what I was going for - a rotisserie chicken, pastina, carrots, celery and chicken broth. Ta da! Chicken Noodle Soup.

Now I know some may say that it's not exactly a challenge to cut up carrots and celery, shred chicken that's already cooked, and throw it into a pot filled with chicken broth - just to bring the conglomeration to a boil and let it simmer for an hour. I agree, and it's probably one my more favorable meals to make mainly because soup is not an exact science - a majority of the time it just comes out alright. I jazzed-up today's version with escarole and a few cloves of garlic. This is the second time I've crafted a batch of chicken soup this winter - the first, just before Christmas.

Over the years, I've watched my Mom make turkey soup many times with the leftovers from our Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Soup was one of my favorite meals to have when visiting my Grandparents; when everyone would be dressing hotdogs with mustard and coleslaw, I was warming split-pea soup on the stove. Of course, I consumed my fair share of Ramen noodles in college.

The first traces of soup date back to 6000 BC. Today, Campbell's Tomato, Ceam of Mushroom, and Chicken Noodle soups are three of the most popular soups in America. Americans consume approximately 2.5 billion bowls of these three soups alone each year. (Thank you Wikipedia.)

Although I almost always decide to make chicken noodle soup, every now and then, I go for something different: Broccoli rape and white bean soup, split-pea, or butternut squash puree. The split-pea soup didn't turn out that well, but now I know that I really do need a hambone to achieve the flavor. The butternut squash soup I had to puree by hand, with a flat spatula with holes in it. In the end it was too bland, so we added enough butter and cinamon sugar to make cookies out of it. So it's no surprise that, today, I choose chicken noodle for the comfort and convenience.

Unlike many, who see the turn of the year as the time to lose weight, I made the resolution to go out more... and in all fairness, I don't really want to just go out on week-long benders. I want to get out, see more, and try new things, like Avgolemono, Bouillabaise, Irish Brotchan Foltchep, Scotch Broth and chilled Spanish gazpacho.