Soup Girl

I love soup. I have always loved soup. In fact, I can't recall a time in my life when I haven't adored soup.

As a child, we would often go out for family dinners to a local restaurant called Abdow's. They had the most amazing "soup and salad bar" imaginable (or, at least, amazing to my elementary-school-aged self). I would almost always choose this as my meal, because getting the "soup and salad bar" meant unlimited soup. Of course, it also meant unlimited salad, but that mattered very little to me. My sister was the lettuce-loving child (who, to my horror, would actually eat iceberg lettuce plain with no dressing). I, on the other hand, was lured in by the soup. Steaming bowlfuls of vegetable, potato, and tomato soup...with corn chowder on especially wonderful days. Adbow's soup extravaganza also meant that I didn't have to choose. I got a little of each bisque, chowder, and stew, with no need to worry myself with decision-making. And when it comes to good soup, decisions should not have to be made.

So, as you can imagine, new soup recipes are always welcome in our house. And, when they turn out to be easy, flavorful, and interesting, we ask them to stay and almost always invite them back. Such was the case with this week's recipe for Curried Red Lentil Soup. The decision to try this recipe (at least on my part) was born partly out of necessity. With an upcoming move on the horizon, we are working to eat through our pantry in an effort to avoid packing food on top of all the other things that there will be to pack. A bag of red lentils was amongst the pantry items that had long been forgotten. However, upon rediscovering them, I decided that destiny awaited them, in the form of soup!

And so, soup was made. Simple soup. Nothing complicated. No long lists of ingredients. But, still...a good, flavorful, worthwhile concoction. If soup makes you as happy as it makes me, cook yourself a pot. In the opinion of this particular soup-lover, there are few things that make a home as comfortable as a simmering pot of soup on the stove.