Soup, Anyone?

I apologize in advance for the blurry picture of antelope running...mule deer almost stop and pose for pictures, but antelope seem to be more skittish.  I wanted to include this picture for my eastern readers that have never seen antelope in the wild...

It sounds like our string of beautiful days is coming to an end...the breeze outside is getting more insistent and the sky is darkening.  I heard that there is a storm advisory in Yellowstone, and snow showers are not impossible today in Cody.  Which means it will be a good day for soup!

I am not so good at New Year's resolutions, but come Fall I try to think of something new to add to my life.  It probably stems from that 'back-to-school' mentality...Fall means a new start because change is in the air.  So I started thinking about what I could do this next year that would be fun, or enriching, or both.  And this Fall I decided that I would become a better cook, and I am going to start with soup.

I never cook soup.  I usually just get a can of something, heat it up and we have soup.  But last year I read the autobiography of Julia Child about her life in France, and went to the movie Julie & Julia a few weeks ago.  It was fascinating to see how the art of cooking completely changed two lives...cooking became their passion.

So in honor of Julia Child, I am going to make homemade soup once a week.  Not French soup, not gourmet soup, just plain old American soup or chowder.  It should be fun to go to the library and get recipes, and have a soup pot where I can use all those leftover bits and pieces of carrots and onions, instead of letting them become moldy in the refrigerator.  This resolution may actually become a lesson in frugality...using every last bit of something.

I am not expecting that making soup once a week will change my life in a big way...I don't like cooking all that much, which is probably why I am not very good at it.  I am looking for smaller rewards...like the smell of soup cooking when I come in the door, and being able to offer my husband something for lunch that doesn't come from a can.  Something nourishing.  Something good.

Sometimes there are big things in your life that you want to change, but can't.  Maybe you don't have the will, or the change would involve someone in your family who is not yet willing to change.  BUT I have found that small changes can enrich your life while the tough things are being worked out.  Small changes can add joy.  Simple things like resolving to meet with a friend for a cup of coffee once a month, or writing one letter a month to a friend or family member that you have lost touch with, or taking a daily walk through a park...or even making a pot of soup.  The possibilities are endless.

Soup, anyone?  DLB