Friday, November 7, 2014

Attitude of Gratitude - Soup

I love soup. It fills you up and warms you up. I could use some soup on this blustery day as I watch the leaves whirling outside my office window. I'm grateful B considers soup an acceptable meal (unlike bagels and cereal from my single days). Add some rolls or corn bread, maybe a salad or some fruit and bam! Dinner's done.

I don't think I gave soup much thought before I got married. Tomato soup was OK and chicken noodle if I was sick. But I think my affinity for soup started not long after I was married. I pulled out emailed recipes from Pam the other day ... an email dated November 7, 2014, so I'd been married less than a month. I'd requested her recipes for chicken corn soup (something I'd never heard of before I moved north of the Mason Dixon Line) and beef vegetable. I made the beef vegetable last weekend and realized how labor intensive soup making can be.

Soup making is definitely better with a friend. You can chat while the meat cooks or the vegetable simmer. One can chop while the other shreds the meat. You have a fellow taste taster to figure out what needs missing for just the right taste. And it's easier to make more than one kind of soup simultaneously so you both have leftovers to freeze for another day.

Pam and I had "soup days" for a number of years. We tried some different kinds, including New England Clam Chowder and Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup, but we usually always included or came back to the chicken corn and beef vegetable. Stick with what you know, right? For nearly 20 years, I've enjoyed making gumbo with the friends who introduced me to Brian. I have some broth leftover from our last gumbo adventure and am looking forward to adding some shrimp and chicken and savoring not only its deliciousness but the memories of good times with good friends.

Soup is a staple in our home over the colder months and I'm looking forward to making and enjoying different kinds all season long.

No comments:

Post a Comment