Vegan? No thanks.

I feel that I have demonstrated a true act of friendship having made and delivered the vegan onion soup. First, I looked at the French recipe and realized that the gobs of butter and beef bouillon were not going to work. Actually, I was already up to speed on the latter and had bought mushroom broth, but butter is so essential in my world, I was flummoxed. I stopped at Albertsons and pondered the butter like substances, but they had nothing that met my criteria. So I went to another supermarket and found something that is lactose free, gluten free, soy free... you get the picture. Came home and made the batch of soup for our friends and then set out to deliver it. Got within striking range and realized that I don't actually know where they live. So there's me driving up and down very Salt Lake streets (i.e. they are called things like 3045 south) wondering if I will ever find the house. Eventually had to call someone, who called them (I don't have their numbers as they are more Craig's friends than mine) and me and my now very mushroomy smelling car pulled up and made the delivery. I assured them that "it is the thought that counts" and if it is inedible, they should pour it out straight away.

Then came home and put the finishing touches on our batch that had beef broth, butter and loads of lovely french bread floating on top under a melted swiss cheese. Yum.

Saturday in SLC

Sam and I are up and getting ourselves ready to head up for skiing. We got him new boots and skis yesterday at this great place a block from our house. They do consignment as well as new equipment and clothing. We got a great deal on his gear and I left two outgrown pairs of skis there for them to try and sell. Craig took the camera to Mexico so no pictures today. When we get home, Sam is going to make French onion soup from the copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking I have had since my teens. His dad got him his first Le Creuset pot yesterday. We are also going to make a vegan batch for our friend who just had a double mastectomy and has gone vegan since his diagnosis. All in all, a lovely Saturday.

Let down

What a let down. We had a few inches of snow and the university was open today. I think the word blizzard got used because we did experience a radical drop in temperature and high winds. All day today it barely hit 20 degrees F. Sam and his friends have built an igloo over the last few days which they intend to sleep in over Christmas break. Fortunately it is at someone else's house so I won't have to contend with half frozen teenage boys at 3am. Looking forward to a few days off. We are invited to Val's for Thanksgiving dinner which is even better. No wrestling a turkey for me. May try out the cross-country skis tomorrow.

Calm before the...

BLIZZARD. Apparently we are about to be hit by a blizzard. This is not a term that gets used very often so I'm not quite sure what we are up for. They closed the university at 2pm so we could all make our way home before the BLIZZARD. It is now 5:10pm and the temperature is dropping, the wind blowing, but no sign of the BLIZZARD. Just incase we stocked up on movie rentals, bottled water, wine, and popcorn.

What we woke up to

Sam and his friend got up and started shoveling before we even had to ask them.

Fancy breakfast al fresco?

The majestic blue spruce.