I was driving towards Nashville on a cold rainy morning when my phone rang. Well, not really rang. What do you call it that cell phones do. Sing? My ringtone is more of an instrumental.
Maybe it played.
Anyway, it was somebody from the local Census Bureau office, wanting to know if I wanted a job.
Yes.
It's not a great job. It's office work, entry level type of office work. But then, I've never worked in an office. I've done taxes, ordering and paperwork when we had a cafe/coffeehouse, and I did deposits and submitted reports in my last job, where I was a store manager, but I've never worked in a total office environment. Never really wanted to.
No benefits, either. The Census office is temporary. It's an interesting organization. It practically has to reinvent itself every ten years, at least on the local level.
I have worked with the Census Bureau before, in a better paying position, working in the community. But Nashville is a terrible job market. So yay!
Still unpleasant weather, good for soup. I made some split pea soup a few nights ago. I put turkey sausage in it this time, but this is one of those that I used to do as a vegan soup, back in the coffeehouse days. Great with a good, hearty bread.
This is restaurant sized. You don't need 4 gallons of soup. I would divide by 8.
Split Pea Soup
4 gallons
8 cups split peas
diced potatoes
salt, pepper, garlic
1 lb. carrots
1 bunch celery
2 large onions
mustard powder
dill
thyme
oregano
Put the split peas and a diced potato in the pot, with salt, pepper, and a touch of garlic powder. I wouldn't use to much. It's not a garlicky soup. You could even leave it out if you don't have any. Cover with water (totally covered, plus a little extra) and cook until the potatoes are soft. If it cooks down too much, you can add water. If it's too watery, take the cover off.
Cut up one stalk of celery and a carrot, and dice half an onion, less if it's a big onion.
In a separate pan, saute the onion. I do this in vegetable oil. Add a touch of dried thyme, then oregano and dill, in ascending order (ie. the most dill). If you don't have mustard powder, skip it. It's optional. If you are putting in sausage, slice it and cook it in the same pan, until cooked. Add vegetables and saute briefly. The celery and carrots can still be firm. Drop into the soup, and cook until the split peas start to fall apart.
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