Now to tell the truth, I am not a fan of soup. It’s not that I don’t like it at all, it’s that I rarely eat it. The problem is, when I make homemade soup, I’ll be darned if I don’t make entirely too much of it. So here it is, my bottom-of-the-barrel chicken & rice soup.

3 5oz Chicken Breasts
6-8 cups of water
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dill weed
3 splashes hot sauce
1 tablespoon beef (yes beef) bullion
1 cup of your favorite rice
desired amounts of your favorite frozen vegetables (or whatever is on hand)

*Note: Spices may be altered to taste.

Directions:
1. In a large pot (I use my “dutch oven” style pot) combine water, seasonings, bullion and chicken breasts. Boil chicken breasts for approximately 1 hour or until done.

2. Remove chicken breasts from broth, add rice and cook until rice is tender. Meanwhile, tear chicken into bite sized pieces.

3. When rice is tender, add chicken and frozen vegetables. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Serve with your favorite crackers or accompaniments.

It was pretty good, I used cauliflower and spinach, but you can use any veggies you want in it. Just thought I’d throw this out here for everyone.

Well, the new version of NaBloPoMo is out and it’s called Blog365. Brought to you by the same people who brought us NaBloPoMo, this is a bigger challenge. At least 1 post per day for the entire year of 2008. Now I’ve seen where people have said that February 29th is a freebie, but I plan on posting on that day as well. I’m using my blog at Gothic Peach, in the hopes that I can get it “cleaned up” and get a better ratio of paid to non paid posts on that blog.

Last night at work, I swear, I was about to lose it on this guy who called in. He was complaining that he couldn’t access a certain website. Well, he was saying that it was censorship and that Time Warner was purposely blocking that site. I tried to get him to let me troubleshoot possible causes for the site not working and he wouldn’t let me. Then all of a sudden the site started working for him again. Fine.

So then he starts going on and on about the First Amendment, that his rights are being infringed upon, etc etc. I told him that we do not block sites unless they’re something like child pornography, which is the truth. He then tells me that he understands that as a mere employee of the company, I would have to say that even though it’s not the truth. He then goes on to say that all big corporations in America lie. Ok, I’m sorry but if you have such a low opinion of corporate America, why don’t you go back to your own country? If this place is so damn bad that you think that because a website is down, that it’s being blocked from your internet connection, you need to leave. Period. For crying out loud. Get a life.

Disclosure: I purchased this book with my own money. I have no connection with this book’s publisher or author in any way. No compensation was received for this review.

Into the Woods did NOT make me happy at all. The timelines were all messed up, with Willow’s mother Grace speaking of listening to CDs and sending e-mail to people she had to leave behind when her father was killed. Now if you remember, the previous book, which would be at the very least 34 years later (Willow was 18 in the first book, and Hannah, Willow’s daughter, is 16 in the third book), but yet Grace has the EXACT same things Willow & Hannah do. How is that possible?

The ghost writer who put this series together was clearly not paying attention to what they were doing and it shows. Unfortunately, the rest of the series was wonderful and I’m now having to pan this particular book. I’m hoping beyond hope that Hidden Leaves will be much better. After all, it’s the diary that made everyone need to know how Grace ended up in that mental hospital.

This blog gets no readers. LOL Or if it does, nobody leaves comments. I have exactly 2 comments, one from Joana and one from myself, responding to said comment. I need to get going on my followups for comments on Gothic Peach. Of course, it would truly help if the site would stay up and running long enough.

Disclosure: I purchased this book with my own money. I have no connection with this book’s publisher or author in any way. No compensation was received for this review.

I recently finished reading Twisted Roots by VC Andrews. I have to say, I was mildly disappointed that it actually told Willow’s daughter Hannah’s story. Granted, it wasn’t a bad book at all, but there were things in it that to me, did not typically go with the rest of the series and frankly, the book didn’t really seem to fit that well into it. I realize that it is ghost writers writing these books, but the least they could have done was made it a bit more in keeping with the rest of the series. It’s easy to see why some VC Andrews fans have stopped reading the more recent series that are being released under her name.

The basic gist of Twisted Roots is that Hannah feels a unwanted and unloved when her baby brother is born, then dies. She takes off with her boyfriend and uncle to head for New Orleans to start a singing career, but her boyfriend takes off and she ends up having to go home. The entire book is much less dramatic than I would have expected and I’m honestly not as fond of the book as I was of Willow and Wicked Forest.