When I was young my brother and I looked forward to snowstorms. First, it was pretty outside. Second, it could lead to a snow day and sledding, and third, it meant a day for soup.
I remember the first soup that I ever made was barley beef vegetable in my mom’s new crockpot. I still have the cookbook with the page bent over at the corner. The entire house smelled like beef and carrots. Outside our front door, my dad would pile the snow into huge snowbanks.
One year we built snow caves and snow tunnels. I thought it would be funny to drop snow on the neighbor boy who was digging….Big mistake as I was hit across the bridge of my nose and over one eye with a shovel. A quick trip to Dr. McDonald and several stitches later I was back home, probably eating soup.
I was home the Halloween of 1991. I lived in a tiny house down by Lake Harriet. A friend called to say she was cross country skiing to work. I took one look outside at the 30 inches of snow piled against my house, and I went back to bed. That, my friend, was a snow day to remember! I was trapped for three days inside my warm and cozy house. I loved it, and I made soup.
As an adult I still enjoy a gentle snowstorm, as long I don’t have to drive in it. Last week we had to call AAA twice for getting stuck in the ditch. This is never fun. I do feel bad for the people who have to be outside in the snow or cold. I hope they bring a thermos of one of these terrific soups!
Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others; each batch has its own characteristics, and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavor.
Marge Kennedy
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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