Soup, soup and more soup

I've made quite a lot of soup over the past couple of weeks - 2 batches of pea soup for the Chief, 1 batch of an "Italian-inspired" veggie soup into which I like to dump a bag or 2 of frozen salad shrimp, and a couple of batches of the veggie-beef soup that's oh, so good made w/ oxtails instead of stew beef.  This time, because I didn't have any of the cabbage the recipe calls for, I substituted a bag of frozen chopped spinach.  I've been making this soup and improvising on it for years & years; I can't believe I never thought to dump spinach in it until now.  You can't really taste it, but I rather like seeing all those bits of spinach swimming around in it.  (I'm a spinach fan; what can I say?)

Oh, and I can't forget the awesome batch of pumpkin soup I threw together a couple of weeks ago for an ailing neighbor, and just "happened" to make so much that there was plenty for me, too.  (The Chief isn't a fan so I had it all to myself.)  It was definitely one of my better batches; not only was it nice & thick, but the last-minute decision to throw in 1 tsp of cumin was a very good one.

Still to be made: my nephew's boeuf bourguignon, now that I have a dutch oven to make it in.

Happy birthday, Pride & Prejudice!

I first discovered Pride & Prejudice on a high school summer reading list and have revisited it repeatedly.  I've read the other extant Austen novels, of course, but P&P remains my favorite, with Emma in second place.  I've read several of the take-offs (the novels about other characters, about Elizabeth & Darcy's children, etc.) and while I don't consider myself a full-fledged "Janehead" or "Janeite", I have been enjoying the articles about Jane & her works.  Here's a good one:  http://www.thesmartset.com/article/article12211202.aspx