Friday, September 5, 2008

Weirdness

Okay, I'm sorry if I sound mean here, but when you go to school, especially a post-secondary one, should your teachers not be at a higher level of knowledge than you? After all, you are paying through the nose for the sheer "honour" of attending their classes (not to mention the books!). I'm going there to learn. Not teach. Sigh.

So what's the deal? Well, apparently my computing teacher struggles with running a jump-drive and relies way too much on our shabby school e-mail service for class projects... when it failed on Tuesday we got to waste 20 minutes while she tried to figure out how possibly to get all of our student e-mail addresses. Eventually, I tore out a sheet of paper, grabbed a pen, and started a list old school style. The look on the prof's face was priceless. Go problem solving!

The other incident was less of a problem and more of a semantics issue, I think (or hope!). My core course (Food Services) professor mentioned yesterday the need to tell a "strict vegan who doesn't wear or use any animal products and attends PETA rallies" to eat a couple eggs every day to boost protein intake. Umm... eggs? Do they not come from an animal, namely a CHICKEN?? You know, cluckety cluck?? I rolled my eyes and caught the glance of my friend, who just shook her head. Ooooh, boy.

Ah well. The first week is over. Thank God... I forgot why people hated school!

The other weird thing that happened this week was the result of my stepbrother. After my mom made cabbage rolls, we still had a bigger than Jupiter cabbage in our cold-storage room (it didn't fit in the fridge). While wolfing down his share of the rolls on Tuesday, Dan asked my mom to make cabbage soup one night this week. I was flabbergasted. The carnivore, meat, potato and ramen noodle boy asking for a vegan, pasta-less soup? I think my mom decided to seize the opportunity while it was still on the table (so to speak), and started to dig through her cookbooks for a decent recipe. The only request from Dan was that it needed to be spicy. Not "add a couple grinds of pepper" spicy - more "add as much pepper and Tabasco as we have in the house" spicy. Not wanting to blow their heads off, though, my mom comprimised, taking two different cookbook recipes (one German, one Polish) and adding four different types of pepper instead of a ton of one specific kind (which would have been paprika from the Polish version). A big Vidalia onion, some celery and a jar of home-canned stewed tomatoes rounded out the shreds of cabbage and added some interesting flavour to the spiced broth (with mustard powder from the German recipe) too.
This soup, basic as it seems, is so delicious that I could easily eat it every day for lunch (I'd stir in some kidney beans for protein, though, if making it a full meal). It stores wonderfully, getting better as it sits, and is filling, low-calorie, and full of cancer-fighting vitamins and cruciferous veggies!

Peppery Cabbage Soup
Serves 10, 2 cups per serving
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
12 cups water
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1 large head green cabbage, chopped
19 oz stewed tomatoes
  1. In a very large pot, heat oil.
  2. Saute onion, celery and peppers 6-7 minutes.
  3. Add garlic, cook 1 minute more.
  4. Stir in water, broth, salt, pepper, paprika, and mustard powder. Bring to a boil.
  5. Add cabbage and tomatoes, reduce heat to a simmer.
  6. Cook 40 minutes, uncovered.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 75.6
Total Fat: 1.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 442.7 mg
Total Carbs: 14.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.1 g
Protein: 2.8 g

4 comments :

  1. Ouch. Those teachers sound like a TA I had once who was hired to mark my students' essays. I had to go through them and CORRECT the TA's marking!! They just don't make 'em like they used to, I tell you. Now, that soup, well that's another thing. . .

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  2. Ouch. Those teachers sound like a TA I had once who was hired to mark my students' essays. I had to go through them and CORRECT the TA's marking!! They just don't make 'em like they used to, I tell you. Now, that soup, well that's another thing. . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey the recipe sounds awesome ... cluckety cluck thats a new word lol

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  4. This sounds a lot like the cabbage soup I make that I got from my grandfather. The mustard powder is interesting. I have to add that to mine next time.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!