Happy Birthday Melissa!

It was cold when I left for work on Thursday, so I went in and changed my light jacket for a coat.

When I got home from work, I treated the cats, changed my shoes and gave Melissa a call. I didn’t expect to get her (and I didn’t) so I just left her a “Happy Birthday” message.

I put on my coat and a wool hat and went out to cut the front lawn. By the time I got done, I was wishing I’d worn gloves! It was not only cold but there was a stiff wind blowing. Brrr...

Since I was out there and already cold, I got the camera and took some pictures of the trees in the front yard. Only the small maple still has a significant number of leaves.

I thought I’d try Melissa’s cabbage soup. So, I cut a head of cabbage into quarters. Then, by cutting on an angle, I cut out the core (see photos). I cut each quarter into smaller wedges and then into squares (she recommended pieces no more than one inch so they stay on your spoon).

I put all the cabbage into my Dutch oven and added a whole 46-ounce jar of spicy V8 juice and four dashes of Franks Red hot sauce. That’s it. That’s the whole recipe!

I brought that up to a boil and then turned it down to simmer. I covered it and went in and watched TV for a couple of hours.

I came back and got a big bowl of it. Delicious! I even went back and got another half bowl.

I watched a little more TV and put the rest of the soup into freezer containers. In spite of how much I had eaten, I still got two 4-cup and one 2-cup containers of leftovers. Then I went to bed, burping...