Bringing magic back into everyday life, even though for most people, it just looks like soup.
~Fia and Kye Skye
Years ago, when I was teaching for Natural Gourmet in NYC, one of my most popular and oft-repeated courses was Healthy Cooking for Busy People, where every meal plan started with soup. I also taught another popular series called “JUST SOUPS” (which actually sometimes included bread making.)
When I need to feel nourished, I make a VERY big pot of soup. (I grew up in my grandmother’s kitchen and we were such a large extended family that mostly her pots occupied more than one burner, so that was my frame of reference for how much soup to make.)
When I am feeling restless or uncertain about what to do, I make soup. Answers often arise as I tend to the pot and troubles are sometimes stirred away.
When I need to get grounded, I make soup.
When I need to send love and healing thoughts to someone, I bring homemade soup.
And, while struggling with my own family dealing with COVID all through December, dear friends dropped off containers of soups (or the fixins for soup) to sustain and love us through the ordeal.
Thoughts Worth Considering
Every culture around the world includes favorite soups in their food repertoire. Soup is often at the core/heart of family meals.
One of my favorite childhood books is Stone Soup, a story about a village where the inhabitants each contribute what little they have to a big cauldron of boiling water to feed the community.
Questions Worth Asking Ourselves:
- What are your childhood memories of being nourished by soup?
- Do you have a favorite recipe and with whom can you share it?
Actions Worth Taking:
- Is there someone in your world who could use a bowl of soup right now? Are you able to offer that to them in some way?
- Are you in need of soup/nourishment to feed your body and spirit right now? Whom might you ask to bring you the nourishment you need? ( I know. Asking is more difficult than giving. Ask anyway.)
Be willing to pause and enjoy soup time.
(You might even Facetime or Zoomtime with a friend and enjoy each other’s company along with your soups.)
Today is the perfect day to make soup.
Soup is the song of the hearth and the home.
~Louis Pullig De GouyReal soup is to the body what peace is to the soul.
~Isabel Allende
MAKING SOUP
sometimes all the chopping
and stirring and tasting and seasoning
so totally capture my attention
that the small worries of the day
float away with the steam rising
sometimes all the delicious aromas
that bubble up when making soup
bring such simple joy to my heart
that my eyes fill with happy tears and
my whole self overflows with contentment
SAVORING SOUP
time to slow down
and simply enjoy the delicious blend
of flavors in a good cup of soup
time to curl up on the couch
with my favorite bowl
and favored recipe and simply be
present to the gift
of these precious moments
when I allow myself
to slow to a pace of grace
and gratitude for each
and every loving spoonful
that fills my body
replenishes my spirit
and warms my soul
such is the satisfying magic
of Soup Time…ME TIME
Sacred Time Out of Time
From the heart, mind, and pen of Minx ©2021 Minx Boren. All rights reserved. Please share with attribution
Soup, soup, soup, fabulous soup! One pandemic memory is a friend bringing me a Honey Baked Ham Bone with a bag of the spices and split peas to make a big pot of soup.
You’re right – – – soup is a wonderful memory throughout the decades. As well as good food. Thanks Minx.
blessings,
Cynthia
Minx, Nothing better than soup on a cold rainy day. Great memories thank you.
Larry, I think that SOUP is the perfect comfort food. And the best for rekindling memories.
I swear you could taste the chicken and tomatoes
And the noodles and the marrowbone
But it really wasn’t nothing but some water and potatoes
And the wonderful, wonderful soupstone
My mother also had a huge soup pot that in my early childhood served for washing clothes in as well. After the telephone rang and she talked to her friend for so long that my sister’s dress burned, she got a machine.
I was picky as a child and hated soup because my mother’s soup had to contain celery root, leek, and onions and I liked neither. I did like her apple soup, though. It was like thin applesauce, not too sweet, served hot with Nilla wafers and perhaps a dollop of whipped cream. Try it on a cold winter’s day, you will not regret it. As we had 10 apple trees in the back yard we had so many dishes with apples that it was almost too much of a good thing. The blackbirds would stumble intoxicated around when my father had turned around the compost heap and they had feasted on the rotten apples.
Charlotte, What a lovely memory. DRUNK on apples. There is a curried apple butternut squash soup that is a favorite of mine. AND a great thing to do with extra apples that have lost their crispness. I always keep some on hand in my freezer…just in case.
Minx, you have touched my heart today! We recently moved from Houston Texas to Portugal. We are surrounded with vegetables and ingredients I have never seen or even heard of before. As we are navigating our way in this new space, the only thing I really want to do is make SOUP! I have made one or 2 soups a week now for almost 8 weeks! No recipe, new ingredients, just throwing things together that make sense. And every bowl brings me a sense of normal, calm and peace. #makesoup
What a lovely story Carolyn. Creating HOME in a new space by making soup. Laying claim to local fare as a way to settle in. I think you have the makings of a great cookbook/story. AND I know how challenging it can be to actually write down a recipe since it all begins with tossing some random goodness into a pot. When my grandmother would cook, I learned to stand there with measuring cups and make her empty her handfuls of this and that into my cups first so I could attempt to write things down. Then I learned that it was better to let go and let creativity happen, pot by pot. Savor and surrender and then do it all over again.
Dear Minx,
You have rekindled so many fond memories of soup; from childhood onwards. As Susan Rooks mention chicken soup is Jewish Penicillin! My Dad did all the real kosher food, and Mom (who was Christian) sometimes got told off for grilling bacon! Soup is therapeutic. It is relaxing, calming, only a spoon needed. I do love your article, Minx. Makes me want to make some soup! I’ve never been able to replicate any of the classic kosher dishes. The Dutch are keen on soup. Brown bean soup, mushy pea soup and chicken soup. Thank you everso for enlivening a cold wet day here, across the pond.
Simon
YES Simon. Soup is indeed therapeutic. And a delicious gift for our souls as well as our bodies. YES. Replicating the classics, especially kosher dishes from “the old country” is a challenge. I grew up in my bubby’s kitchen and there are taste memories that I have that I have never been able to replicate, even with all my years in the kitchen.