Split Pea Soup!

Yummy I'm so excited I made split pea soup for dinner tonight - it sure smelled like fall cooking in my house this morning!! It is the easiest recipe and it tastes really good! Also, it makes a very large batch so we'll have leftovers for lunches for a few days.

So I guess I've come around to it being fall now. The leaves are turning here, and really quickly. I need to get out and get some pictures soon.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb green split peas

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 ham hocks or 1 ham bone - or if you are watching calories you could either leave this out or add chopped up turkey ham

1 small/medium onion ( I use white) chopped

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

1 teaspoon pepper - or more to taste, I use a little more

2 quarts water

Put everything in a large slow cooker and let it go for 8 hours on low. After 8 hours, remove the ham hocks/bone, pick off any meat and return the meat to the soup. Once in a while the soup is a little to chunky for taste at this point so I use my immersion blender and give it a quick whirl before I add the meat back in. If you like it chunky then stir and serve!

Leadership Academy

Recently I was accepted into the Leadership Academy here at work. It is sponsored by the Provost's office here at University of Idaho. Apparently they only take one employee from our division, so I am so honored to be included. I'm really excited because I'll get to meet a lot more of my fellow employees, currently my office is located in a building that is way off on the edge of campus so I don't have much contact with the rest of campus other than by email. Also, since I work in HR I don't really have much to do with students other than the two work study students I supervise. I tend to forget that the reason we are all here is for the students. Our leadership academy retreat quickly reminded that the student are why we are here.

I've also learned a few things about myself. We had to take this assessment that let us know what our strengths were, in the context of this particular evaluation anyway. Here were mine:

Context: People who are especially talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.

Ideation: People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

Activator: People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient. (I don't think I realized that I may often be impatient?)

Adaptability: People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

Learner: People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.

I'm still learning how to apply this knowledge and I'm trying to decide if they are really accurate, but it gives me somewhere to start.

Football

Are you ready for some football?? We are. I'm not ready for fall, just football... yes I realize they go together. Last night was the first University of Idaho football game, it went well... Idaho had not won a season opener since 1998, but last night not only won the opener but achieved the largest margin of victory in 18 years by defeating North Dakota 45-0. It was just really fun to go and watch the team do really well! Mike gets into the games for free, but I had to buy tickets so this year I bought season tickets. It should be a lot of fun. Next week's game will be a lot tougher, we play Nebraska - in Nebraska, but its good, we've got the Boise State game in November so we really need the practice playing tough teams. This will be the last year of the Idaho/BSU rivalry. Maybe its a good, things can be really toxic in this rivalry (Mike would argue this point with me though!)

I'm also participating in a Fantasy Football league - I have NO IDEA what I'm doing??? I missed the draft so I fairly certain my team is terrible. I guess I'll find out when the season starts. I'm ready for my lazy Sundays watching football!!