I love the early morning hours – when the world is still relatively quiet and the day is full of promise. But in these days of the corona virus pandemic, I find the fading darkness and glimmers of sunrise to be devoid of enthusiasm for the dawning of a new day.
Who would have thought normalcy could slip away so easily – eclipsing fully entrenched habits and routines? Who’d of thought we’d be making bandanas, yarmulkes and our great aunt’s delicate antique handkerchiefs into protective masks? That we would be shopping obsessively for essentials that usually aren’t’ available anyway?
We no longer have freedom from fear and want.
We are busy doing nothing.
We long for going back to simple things and reminders of happier times.
Everyone has their little outposts of security–for me, a pot of homemade soup simmering on the stove is a concrete harbinger that everything is right with the world.
News of riots, natural disasters and crashes can somehow be held at arm’s length — tension, stress, and worries can be eased — by walking into a home where your nose is gently tickled by the subtle smell of onions, parsley and fresh vegetables bubbling in the soup pot. Sooo, when you are going through Hell, what in the Hell do you do? MAKE SOUP!
It must have something to do with my childhood memories–a small, skinny girl running home from the school bus to tell her grandmother her tales of woe and ecstasy emanating from the portals of Bond Hill Elementary School. To my grandmother, a bowl of homemade soup was an absolute staple of dinner It was no wonder my grandmother was always chopping and stirring while she listened with rapt attention to my giggling accounts of gossip and me-stories.
By the time I turned into a heavier adolescent with tales of life that were more upsetting than entertaining, my grandmother had passed away and I was no longer so anxious to share my inner thoughts anyway. However, my memories of homemade soup and security were already firmly connected.
These aren’t my grandmother’s recipes – those are probably long lost in a stuffy attic somewhere in Ohio. These below are very similar, though, and are from my recently deceased mother-in-law’s stash.
BUBBY’S VEGETABLE SOUP
Ingredients:
2 lbs. chuck
2 soup bones
2 whole onions
1 bag celery
1 bag carrots
16 – 28 oz. can whole tomatoes
6 – 7 potatoes
1 large bag mixed vegetables
1 box fresh string beans
1 box mushrooms
salt, pepper, parsley, garlic to taste
Wash meat and cut in chunks–put in a VERY large soup pot 2/3 full of water–simmer 1/2 hour, partially covered; skim frequently. Add spices, soup bones, whole onions, and cut up fresh vegetables. Blend in blender whole tomatoes and put in; simmer 1 hour, partially covered. Put in peeled and cut up potatoes and mixed vegetables and cook 1 hour more, partially covered. Then let sit one hour, covered. Remove bones and onions. If you’d like, when both soups cool, put in refrigerator overnight. Skim fat. Heat and serve.
BUBBY’S HAMBURGER & POTATO SOUP
Ingredients:
2 lbs. hamburger
2 soup bones
2 whole onions
bread crumbs
1 pkg. carrots
5 stalks celery
7 potatoes
salt, pepper, garlic, parsley
Fill a very large soup pot 2/3 full of water. Put in cut-up carrots, celery stalks, cut-up potatoes, soup bones and whole onions. Cook for one hour, partially covered.
Mix hamburger with bread crumbs, cut-up onion, salt and pepper. Roll into small meatballs and cook one more hour, partially covered. Let sit one hour covered. Remove bones and onions. When soup cools, put in refrigerator overnight. Skim fat. Heat and serve.
Ladle on and Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
