Vegetable Soup with Corn Dumplings

First off, I want to say "thank you" to the guy in the Acura last night, who took a year or so off my life by trying to superimpose his car on mine. I saw you again a ways down the road and noticed that you'd started signaling your lane changes; good for you!

It's raining today, the rain that dribbles coldly down the back of your neck, that splats into circles a half inch or more across on your windshield, with little proto-snowflakes all around the edges. Between that, the darkness, the foggy patches, and the semis kicking up clouds of spray, good visibility on the Pike this morning was about fifteen feet, which didn't stop most people from driving the usual 80 MPH. I am constantly astonished by the relative scarcity of serious accidents on that highway.

I spent half the drive wrestling with myself: Park in my usual spot, which is cheap, but entails a walk of nearly a mile to the office? Or park in the garage two blocks from the office and pay a lot more? I decided to tough it out only because I have to attend a training class today and am not sure I'll be out in time get the early bird rate at the garage. And who knows, maybe by then the rain will have lightened up. The prospect from my office window is bleak and grey--there's not enough green on the trees yet to see it from a distance. Only the crew teams are on the river, impressing me as they always do with their dedication.

All of which is a long way of saying that it's a good day for soup. I wish this had been a better soup, since then I'd be looking forward to having it again for dinner, but unfortunately I didn't like it very much, and we might get takeout. Part of it was my fault, for adding too much cayenne, but even without that I think it would have elicited little more than an "eh," and I'm not planning to make it again.

Tomorrow is Saturday, and new adventures in menu planning await. I am keenly looking forward to supper club this weekend and seeing what everyone else is making for the "egg" theme.