Wonderful soup, thanks to Debbie!

So, this is my big copycat week. I'm home from work, and I have all the time in the world to cook, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to make a lot of lovely food that I've read about in blogs. Yesterday, Per ruined this little quest by requesting falafel - which is fine, and I was glad to eat that, too - but on Monday, I made Debbie's Beef and Barley Soup. Mmm! It's really tasty, and I'll definitely save the recipe. Next time, I'd go a little easier on the soy sauce though. Mine turned out very dark, much darker than the one in Debbie's picture. I don't know if my soy sauce was more potent, or what. I let my soup simmer for close to two hours, and it was wonderfully flavorful and rich. I even used celery - normally something I can't stand, but I braced myself and figured it would help bring the flavors together.

Tomorrow, I will be baking my first sourdough bread! I made a sourdough starter on Saturday night, and I've been faithfully stirring it every day since. Today, it was time to add more stuff to it, and tomorrow, it will be ready. I'm making a bread that also has poolish, a different kind of starter, so I've got one of those going too. It only takes 24 hours, so it will be done tomorrow morning. Exciting! I love baking bread, I just don't love that it takes so long to do it!