if rudolph were from newfoundland

Yesterday I took part in a facebook debate between husband and wife. And really, who doesn't love to get in between a husband and wife conflict that is not their own? You can throw your opinion every which way knowing that your own personal doghouse will remain empty that night.

Love that.

The debate involves an age old song that over time may have lost some zest in terms of pronunciation.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

As it was brought to my attention, one member of the couple insisted it was pronounced doff, the L being silent.

Oh for shame!

I sang it over and over. I was convinced, and remain still, the L was, in fact, pronounced and not silent. But..... maybe I was wrong.

Enter......the 'research'.

Yes, people, I like to know when I am doing something wrong. I could be walking around, year after year, singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with an L audible to all when, in fact, the L should be silent.

We are talking first world problems here. To a spectacular degree.

So I researched it. Even more so than what was being said on facebook.

Turns out the people who thought the L was silent are all from Newfoundland.

This is neither here nor there. Well, it may be more here than there but I'm not getting into it.

This is what I discovered in my extensive research on this most important matter.

1. This most confusing and not very helpful audio.

2. And this cha cha Q&A.

Cha cha is always right, isn't it. Didn't Ellen say that once on her show?

I'm sure there is more but what I have decided is that, in the spirit of Christmas and all that is gleeful singing and joyous reindeers, people should sing it how they want.

No one can tell the difference anyway.

So....... how do you sing it?

Now that the song is conveniently stuck somewhere in your right hemisphere, or maybe your left depending on whether or not you are from Newfoundland, are you feeling hungry?

Perhaps you should whip up some of this amazing soup. You know, for the carol festival you are sponsoring in your head right now.

My friend Sara gave me the recipe and I don't know where she got it from but holy mother of soup, it is the best soup I have ever had. And I can say with pride and astonishment that every single member of my annoyingly picky family loves it. Kale and all!

Yummy Potato and Italian Sausage Soup

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

8 to 10 medium cleaned Idaho potatoes with skin on and cubed
2 lbs of mild Italian sausage, loose or links with the skin removed
3 ribs of celery, sliced length wise then diced
2 scallions (only) diced
1 large tablespoon of chopped garlic
1 litre of half & half
10 cups of chicken broth (sometimes I add more)
1 half package of Real Bacon Bits
1 package of cleaned and dried fresh spinach or Kale
1 container of fresh grated parmesan cheese( fresh kind only)
1/2 cup of flour

Seasonings:
1 teaspoon or 2 nice shakes of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of sea salt



DIRECTIONS
Brown sausage meat in a large pot. Drain. Add scallions, celery, bacon and garlic. Saute for a few minutes. Then add potatoes and 8 cups of chicken broth. Add paprika and red pepper flakes. Bring to a mild boil and turn down and simmer for 45 minutes to a hour or until potatoes are fork tender. Then slowly add the spinach or kale and work into soup, and simmer a couple more minutes. Mix the flour with the remaining broth and gradually add to the pot. It will not make it thick but it will add some body to broth...and finally stir in slowly the half and half (I used 3/4 of the quart). Salt to taste. Simmer a few minutes more and serve in bowls with a nice sprinkle of the fresh parmesan cheese.

The changes I personally made to it are:
-I use both fresh kale and spinach. I chop and add the kale to it when I add the potatoes and let it simmer. It never takes 45 minutes and I think that's because I use red potatoes because they are my favourite. I add the spinach towards the end.

-I use the entire litre of half and half.

-I skip the parmesan because I'm cheap and I don't really like parmesan. But mostly because I'm cheap.

-I also cook up a whole pound of bacon and chop that up to stick in the soup because I like bigger pieces of bacon and also because it's cheaper than buying the real bacon bits. And, as I may have already mentioned, I'm kind of cheap.

I prefer frugal but.......

Whatever.

Enjoy!