::cream of tomato soup and japanese curry::

It is a dreary Monday in Seattle. Gray skies, gray water, gray mood. Mondays are especially hard when they follow a seemingly sun-less weekend, which is the case with this particular Monday and this past weekend.

Cold rainy weekends, especially ones without Eric, call for warm comforting foods. My Sunday was filled with coffee, the fragrant smell of roasting tomatoes and hot steam from some bubbling curry on the stove. I didn't get around to filing our taxes like I had ambitiously planned for, but at the end of the day/weekend, my satisfied tummy was quite alright with how things turned out.

The surprisingly simple and healthy cream of tomato soup recipe -- that my boss gave me after she saw a box of cream of tomato soup sitting on my desk -- looked like this:

Then, to welcome Eric home with one of his favorite meals, I got started on making Japanese beef curry.  I seared the beef, softened big chunks of onions, and let them simmer low and slow with beef broth, potatoes, and a grated apple.  When the potatoes were the perfect tenderness, I stirred in the curry mix and let all the flavors get friendly with one another in the refrigerator until dinner time.  With a salad of spinach, grated Parmesan, roasted asparagus and baby zucchini, and raspberry vinaigrette, we were both very happy.

 
And of course, knowing that these leftovers are waiting for us at home makes this Monday a little easier to get through!

::cranberry treats::

Yesterday Eric left for Ocean Shores for the weekend with some of his high school friends for a 'man trip.' I expected to come home after work to an empty house but was instead greeted by cheerful flowers and a sweet note from my man. Even more touching was that Eric later described them to me as 'duck-colored' -- anyone who knows about the rivalry between the University of Oregon and the University of Washington can appreciate this gesture -- especially since this was the day before the two schools met on the basketball court. This, ladies and gentlemen, is love!

As a newlywed, I am a huge supporter of and believer in love; however, I'm not the die-hard Valentine's Day fan you'd think I'd be, now that I've secured a guaranteed valentine for life.  I definitely love getting flowers and staring at my handsome husband with googly eyes over a delicious candle-lit dinner, but I don't necessarily want to do these things on a specified day.  With that said, I'm not a Valentine's Day hater either, and I cannot help but be inspired by a day all about love (and one that is heavily commercialized with my favorite color!).

In honor of my lovely husband, February's 'holiday,' and my love for red: cranberry treats!



I love the intense color of the cranberries and the tartness they bring to these sweet treats.

Happy February and go Ducks!