Beef with Barley Soup

Nothing is funnier than living right in front of a bus stop in New England on a snowy day, when you can sit at your dining room table with the window shades pulled open, holding a nice steaming bowl of hearty beef with barley soup with a shit-eating grin on your face while the frigid people on the sidewalk glare at you in discomfort for enjoying yourself while they are waiting for the goddamn bus.

Ingredients:

14-16 cups water

1 1/2 lbs fatty marbled beef chuck stew meat

1 celery heart

5 carrots

3 large beef bouillon cubes

1 onion

1 cup barley

1 tbsp minced garlic

salt to taste

Tools:

1 big ass pot

1 big ass knife

1 cutting board

Start by putting the bouillon cubes, salt, and garlic in the water and set the pot on the stove on high heat. Take the meat cubes and cut them into smaller bite-sized chunks and throw them into the pot. Wash and cut up the celery heart into 2 inch long pieces. Peel the carrots and cut them into the same size bits as the celery. Dice up the onion and toss all the vegetables in, and then cover the pot. Once the pot comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low and let the soup simmer for about 40 minutes (or until you can smell the goodness all the way from the living room). Once that happens, throw in the cup of barley and let it simmer for another 20 minutes or so, while you catch the end of that Family Guy episode. Then scoop a great big bowl full of soup and enjoy while steaming up your front window as chilly pedestrians walk by.