Soup for a cold day

I made this soup the other day and remembered how good it is.  I originally got the recipe from Deanne.  I think it is too thick as written so plan on at least one additional can of V-8.  Also, I left out the vinegar.  Not sure what it would add but I don't like vinegar in too many things so I choose not to add it.

Pasta e Fagioli

 

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion, diced

1 large carrot, julienned

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes

1 15-ounce can red kidney beans (with liquid)

1 15-ounce can great northern beans (with liquid)

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 12-ounce can V-8 juice

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

½ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. thyme

½ pound (1/2 pkg.) ditali pasta  (short tubes)

 

Brown the ground beef.  Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.  Cook pasta separately until al dente then add to soup.

Retro Apron

Kathryn decided to make a retro apron to have at school.  It turned out pretty cute and she made one for her roommate for a gift too.  I'm still waiting for a picture of her roommate it the other one.

Roomie Pics

Hey Family!

I posted these on my blog, but thought I'd share with y'all! As roommates we decided to get pictures taken. A friend agreed to take them and I had fun working with editing. It was a cold day in Rexburg, but it was worth the results. Sometimes I wonder why family pictures never look quite like this... maybe its because we stick a camera on timer. Although it gets the job done, I like a little bit more creativity (no offense Dad, your camera rocks my socks).
School is going good! I'm taking 15 credits, but they're all going to be busy ones! I'm excited for this semester :)
Love, Janelle

Snow

Greg had snow in Japan.  I think not too common in his area.

Greg's New Years Dinner

Hey everyone!

First email of the new year! Exciting eh? 新年おめでとう！Anyway, this last week was a very unique week for a missionary: we hardly did any normal missionary work. From December 31-January 3 we had two meals a day at members' houses, with their family or with people we are teaching. Lunch and dinner for every day was covered, to keep us from having to door to door when everyone is drunk or wanting to be spending family time. We still did a little when we could find time, but it was pretty busy.

One of the meals was at Parry, a Nigerian member's house. We ate traditional Nigerian food, which was pretty crazy. It was a potato grain paste dough thing that you scoop up with your hand and dip into a slow cooked spicy melon soup - then you just swallow without chewing. The only time you chew is when you pick up (with your hands) the meat in the soup - which is chicken innards and sliced chicken vein. It was tough to chew the vein, and too easy to chew the innards. You also eat the bones off the chicken wing that is set in the soup - because it is slow-cooked, the bones get just soft enough to chew and grind up. It took awhile, but we ate them. Overall though, I actually liked it, and would probably eat it again! I was surprised, considering how disgusting it sounds... 

We also had meals with alot of the people we are teaching, which is good. We were able to teach lessons in a family home evening sort of environment, which was good for them. And this week, we got Parry and Syaiful (the only two non-Japanese members in our ward) both temple recommends, and some people to take them to the Tokyo temple this weekend! We are very excited for them.

On a sadder note, I feel bad for Kyle Smith's family. I always remember him in high school kinda dancing with the slightly shadier side of life, but I don't think he really got into that much trouble, relative to other people I knew. I don't think he deserved to die, and I hope the people who killed him get the justice they deserve. It must have been way scary for everyone else at that party too, I hope nobody who was there is too damaged by that.

Other than that, I'm not sure what else this week. The week has been fairly uneventful in terms of normal missionary experiences - just a ton of food and bonding with members and investigators.

Good to hear about Utah beating Alabama - the coach who was talking them down probably has a pretty sore tongue at the moment from biting it a bid too hard. It will be good for the MWC, and makes BYU look alot less disappointing by losing to Utah. Good stuff...

It is good to hear everything is still going overall well with the family, as usual. I do have one bit of news, from now on, my email day has been changed to Tuesday, so you will be wanting to check your emails on Monday nights now instead! That is starting next week, and I heard it was a worldwide change.

Anyway, love you guys so much! I have some more pictures I will hopefully be sending home soon! Miss you all!

Greg
Greg Burnham
gregburnham@myldsmail.net
1-304 Itakadai
Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
465-0028 Japan