Teamwork--ugh!

And so my school career is about to begin in earnest. I've logged onto both of my classes' websites and looked through the material available. One of my classes worries me; there seems to be a lot of reading involved, even more than the class I took last semester (and I thought that instructor was giving me information overload). I haven't been able to find out too much about assignments, readings, and the like in my other class--my instructor hasn't posted a lot on the page yet. That worries me; I like to plan and look ahead, and not knowing what's ahead is not a comfortable feeling.

Another worrying thing is that both of my classes include a group project. With technology these days, collaborating online is not so much of a problem; Google Docs can help by allowing group members to share the same file all around, and a program used by our instructors for live lectures and discussions can double as a tool for group meetings and collaboration. So the technology is there. I'm shuddering at the thought of working with other people and losing control of my grade because of Johnny's lack of motivation to complete the work or Jill's apathy towards her grades. I remember a couple of old classmates mentioning similar fears. One can hope that since I am in a graduate program that my classmates are serious students with the drive to put out good quality work as I do.

My fear of groups puts me in mind of an old blog post that I wrote at the start of my first semester about the rules of etiquette when working in groups or teams. However, it's all well and good to write a list of rules and talk about being a good member of the team; it's another thing entirely to try and tell people I've never met how we should all act as a group. Perhaps the better route would be to feel them out--test the waters, so to speak. Make no assumptions until I get to know them better.

While I mull on this, I'll post the recipe for this week. The cold weather always makes me crave comfort food, something hearty and warm and filling. Scooter and I felt like making split pea soup, so we got a couple of recipes, took what looked good from some of them, added our own stuff, and came up with this recipe.

What you'll need:
1-2 c. fully cooked ham, cut up in pieces
1 ham hock
1 lb. dried split peas
4 shallots
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped fine
3 medium carrots, chopped fine or course according to your preference
1 handful snipped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3 cans chicken broth (about 5 1/2 c.)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 2 c. water
2 Tbs. cooking oil or butter

What you'll need to do:
1. In a large soup pot, add the cooking oil over medium high heat and sautee the shallots and carrots until slightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add the celery and garlic and sautee for 1 minute more.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cooked ham, ham hock, peas, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, chicken broth, salt and pepper, and 1/2 c. of the water. Return the pot to medium heat and bring the contents to boiling. Lower the heat and simmer over low heat for 8-10 hours. Add 1 to 1 1/2 c. water at the end if soup is too thick.

Scooter and I used bacon grease to sautee the vegetables--it's more flavorful that way (but we know that many people don't save their bacon grease like we do, so using oil or butter is fine). Also, saving your meat bones for this kind of thing can add even more flavor to the soup. We had a few bones from smoked porkchops in the freezer that we took out and added to the soup. Serve with a good french bread. Enjoy!