So Glad I Didn't Have To Learn The Hard Way

Hindsight being 20/20 and all of that, I am just now realizing that when the hard drive on my new laptop went KABOOOOOOM! BUH-BYE! ME NO WANTY TO WORK ANYMORE! I probably should have been a little bit worried.

But I wasn't.

At all.

That, my friends, is the magic of knowing that you have a good system for backups in place.

This all went down probably about a month ago. I was in the midst of editing some photos from a incredibly gorgeous and fun wedding when my laptop was suddenly just very non-responsive. It is, literally, a new laptop, meaning that it well under warranty. Several hours of tech support later, a new hard drive was on the way. With that new hard drive came absolutely nothing.

Not a single one of the files from my old hard drive could be retrieved. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Everything was gone.

But I didn't care.

I didn't care because every single photo I take exists in multiple places. Things get backed up on an external drive just about daily. They get backed up to an online directory pretty much weekly. And, in the instance of client photos (you know, the ones that people pay me to take), they exist on the memory cards until I'm absolutely certain I don't need the original files anymore.

So. I have a lot of memory cards.

But I lost a hard drive and didn't lose a single photo.

So I guess what I'm saying is that it's best not to procrastinate that business with backing up your files. Even if you're using a pretty new laptop, things can go bad with virtually no warning. You'll get to spend hour after hour dealing with tech support (and ZOMG IS THAT PAINFUL), but ...

no memories will be lost, and THAT is what matters.

Now I just have to catch up from losing out on two weeks of productivity.

From Witches to Rock Stars to Fairies, Oh My

I fully admit I purchased a Halloween costume for Kiara. Months ago, even.

She outgrew it like the brat that she is.

But in order to discover that she had outgrown her witch costume (which was EPIC, I must add), I had to go through the motions of grabbing a jar of cat treats, a camera, and a cat. I wasn't willing to give up after all of that.

The cat treats are the magic trick, btw. That kitten will do anything for food, including let me put clothes on her and then show the internet evidence.

WAIT. I take that back. She won't do ANYTHING. She draws the line at putting things on her head, apparently.

She's going to kill me in my sleep for that. Mark my words.

Fortunately, though, Kiara's love of all things food outweighs her displeasure with putting clothes on. So, after a brief consultation with Alexis, we found a new costume. It was hiding in the playroom all along.

I love Halloween SO very much.

Potato Soup (Vegetarian, Even)

The resident 7-year old keeps a lot of notebooks. LOTS AND LOTS of notebooks. Several are used as journals, while others are filled with notes about all sorts of things. In the ultimate of crazy coincidences, if you ask her why she keeps all of the notebooks, she'll say "to help me remember stuff."

Huh. Someone I know maintains a blog for that exact same reason.

Earlier in the week I realized that she was asking me a million questions and then writing down my answers. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I want to remember your Potato Soup recipe," she replied. "It's one of my favorites."

Huh. Someone I know posts recipes on a blog every Sunday night for that exact same reason.

So I guess I owe future Alexis my Potato Soup recipe. For what it's worth, she has a few things wrong in her notebook. For example, I don't know why she decided there are onions in it, because there aren't. I like leeks for this better.

No matter, it's a really good soup. I just need the resident 7-year old to unlock that "can peel potatoes" achievement so that we can make it more often.

Potato Soup (Vegetarian, even)

10 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
3/4 cup sliced carrots
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, chopped (just the white part)
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups heavy cream
salt to taste
black pepper to taste

1. Fill a large stock pot with water and toss in the diced potatoes, carrots, and celery. Boil at medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until it all begins to soften. Don't let the veggies get mushy, though. You want them edible, but not necessarily appropriate for the toothless crowd.

2. Drain the water from the pan, but keep it. You're going to add some of the potato water to the soup at the end.

3. In a nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Toss in the leeks and sauté until the leeks begins to soften.

4. Add in the flour and stir with a fork until the butter and flour join together in beautiful harmony.

5. Gradually add the heavy cream, stirring constantly. If it seems like you're making a typical white sauce, it's because you are. So far.

6. Once the heavy cream is fully incorporated, pour it over your cooked potatoes and such. At this point, you should have some really delicious potatoes that aren't quite a soup.

7. Remember that potato water? Now is when you want to use it. Add a little at a time to the soup until it reaches a thickness/soupiness that you're happy with. I end up adding about two cups, but it's OK if you go with more or less. Do a whole bunch of stirring as you go so that you can be sure of how thick your soup is.

8. Add salt and black pepper to taste. I usually go with a teaspoon of each.

9. Turn the heat on and keep that stock pan over medium/low heat until you're totally happy with the softness of the potatoes and such. I end up cooking it for about five minutes.

10. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and crackers. Because OF COURSE you need crackers. It's the law!

Now somebody convince Alexis that cheese is the best food ever. She still doesn't believe me.