Caribou Soup Anyone?

Hi Lower 48,

I looked around my classroom and every student had their workbook out staring back at me. They were holding their pencils and waiting on my instruction. They wanted to know what was next. They wanted to learn.

Last Tuesday was the definition of chaos in my room. Children everywhere, things all over the place, adults in and out (random adults have a huge effect on the balance in a classroom, and we had visitors from the state and district making their presence known). It was nuts. On Wednesday I had had enough and instituted this new discipline and rewards system... and oddly enough... it worked. It's still working. And it's making my life so much easier.

Tonight I came home with enough energy to make caribou soup. What an adventure! It's so delicious though.... I had to cut up tons and tons of meat.... and I rarely even eat meat! You cut it up into bite size pieces and boil it with a few bouillion cubes in water a little above the halfway mark in your huge pot. After about 20 minutes you throw some rice in there. Jenny cut up the vegetables and potatoes, but was later told you can't cut them up bite sized, so we ended up cutting them up again. After awhile, you throw in the large chunks of potato and large chunks of carrot... once they are getting soft you throw in some onion and celery. Toss in an onion mushroom lipton soup mix, canned tomatoes and a can of corn and voila! caribou soup is all yours.

We have enough to feed an army, so all are invited. Since I doubt any of you can take me up on this offer, Jenny and I will just lunch on it every day this week. There's tons of it, and very few things are better then some caribou soup with a little bit of hot sauce mixed in.... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it, so on that note, I should be off to dream!

Oh yeah - the best part about making caribou soup - when you throw the meat in the water before you boil it, it's smart to pick out all of the hair that floats to the top so you're not eating it later. That's how you know your meat is good and fresh!

Here's to the best caribou soup ever (and visitors!),

Cristina