Because It's a Soup-er Ridiculous Week, I Soup-ed Up Mt. Pleasant with Easy-to-Grab Containers of Beef Pho with Vegetables

The trouble with being back-to-back from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. tonight, is that I needed to spend most of Sunday preparing for being back-to-back from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. tonight. I'm thankful, though, that I took a mental break mid-day and starting steaming beef broth with anise, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, and several other spices I thought might work. I needed a stock to make Pho, didn't have the right noodles, but did though out beef meant for Philly sandwiches (what Pho-lly).

I got the flavor down, but didn't realize how much beef stock I would need (definitely making a mental note of that in the future (good thing I had BJs-binded excess). It worked. I want more carrots and I also think green beans and a little lime would make it even tastier. Don't get me wrong...it's quite good.

I've stocked my fridge with easy to grab containers because I'll be on the go-go-go this week and anything to make life easier is a good thing. I knew (and know) February is bear.

I also learned five poems I wrote were selected to be set to music as part of the University's MLK celebrations, so I need to rehearse those (what a surprise). Wonderful to work with the Quick Center Artist in Residence, Daniel Roumain, a Haitian violinist and composer. 

The only problem with my pho, though, is I don't have shrimp spring rolls, which I liked to dip in peanut sauce to accompany the soup. Oh, well...I'll leave such luxury to Sue McV, as I can't even imagine finding time to craft such edible art.

Off to interviews, meetings, campus government, majors updates, and then of course my evening course. I'm fortunate that there's a small space to get to campus between a.m. ZOOM calls and all the responsibilities on campus, so I won't feel super guilty leaving Karal at home for so long.

The heatwave of 32 degrees coming our way also has me hopeful and a little more cheerful. It's been totally brutal this past week.