"Soup of the Evening...Beautiful Soup"

I type in people's names and search for them. Don 't get a lot of hits, but when I do they blow my mind. Who would ever have guessed that three of the pot-smoking iconoclasts I hung out with in college would now have jobs as editorial writers for Pulitzer prize winning newspapers, or be editor and publisher of a major metropolitan daily, or editor and publisher of a paper in the Far East. And I make cookies for a living.

Brava!

Brava Athenaeus! What a truly marvelous site! Dear Abby very much appreciates you bringing this to her attention. She particularly enjoyed the Rumination on the Invention of Soup.

How absolutley wonderful that Patricia Solley will be joining this beautiful forum. What lovely thoughts she will have to offer!

Magnifique!

Merci,

Abby

~A~

Great site, what a hoot!!!!

Miss Solley has a perfect balance of fun, recipes and History.

I have already added it to my favorites because I am forever looking for new ideas on soups + plus it is obvious that a great deal of work went into her site.

I also look forward to meeting patricia,

Thanks again for the link Athenaeus
:bounce: :bounce: :chef:
cc

Wow! What a wonderful site! Efcharisto, Athenaeus.

Oh God, my first post ever!

Many thanks, Athenaeus, for your kind introduction of my site, soupsong.com. Even more, thank you for introducing me to cheftalk and its denizens. I look forward to making everyone's acquaintance and, if you don't sit down hard on me, may make a pain of myself asking for research assistance from time to time. For example, I'm roaring up on my soupsong deadline for traditional Easter season soups--from Carnival through Lent to Easter Sunday. Athenaeus has already helped with the Cheese Sunday tyrazoumi. Any one else have any special soup traditions for this time of year?

Delightful to meet you, P. Augustus. A warm welcome.

My family's only "tradition" at this time of year relates to Passover: since regular flour-based foods are forbidden, my mother made a substitute "noodle" for her liquid gold (aka chicken soup). A bit of matzo meal was beaten with eggs -- plus, of course, salt and pepper, and a little water to thin the batter. A small amount was put into a hot, oiled omelet pan, just enough to make a very, very thin crepe. After cooking, each was allowed to cool, then rolled and cut in chiffonade. This was used in soup in place of regular noodles.

(Forgive me, everyone, I just read Dear Abby's "California Grill" review, so I'm afraid her style is style with me a bit.)

Welcome Poor augustus,

Great to have you with us,

You are in good company, wonderful people, great resourses.

While you search out your Easter soups I will be poaching my Matzo balls.

Sorry to barge in like this

First Id like to welcome P. Augustus to Cheftalk and compliement her on her lovely site. I will have questions about soup for you soon.

Second, my question. It may seem a little dumb but Ive regularly passed these things in the supermarket. What exactly are Matzo Balls, what are they made of, and what do they taste like? Ive only had Matzo crackers. And gifilterfish (sp?), I have no idea what that is. Are they more appetizing thzn they look?

You'll have to excuse my ignorance.

Wow! Look what I miss when I don't have time to read everything? (I've been really busy lately...yeah, that's it)

I love the soup site! I'm bookmarking it and it is going to be one of my favorites...I'll probably stick a link on DG too (hope you don't mind poor augustus).

What fun!

Welcome to Chef Talk poor augustus...I must admit that I'm curious about the nick name...I'm assuming there is a story behind it!

Nancy

My cup runneth over

Wonderful to get your good wishes and observations, everyone--and, yes, Athenaus, I thought Andrew Smith did a superb job with his History of Soup and used (and cited) him as a reference on that last rumination of mine.

I am so pleased to get the Passover soup references, too, as it's just a matter of time until I get to that subject. I'm counting on lots of stories and family recipes, please.

Finally, I'd like to tell Nancy the story behind my nickname--it's a poem by the 19th century German physician Heinrich Hoffman in his pretty macabre collection called Struwwelpeter (actually and incredibly made into a musical comedy by a Brit a few years ago)which I loved as a child and so did my children:

The Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup

Augustus was a chubby lad;
Fat, ruddy cheeks Augustus had;
And everybody saw with joy
The plump and hearty, healthy boy.
He ate and drank as he was told,
And never let his soup get cold.

But one day, one cold winter's day,
He screamed out--"Take the soup away!
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!"

Next day begins his tale of woes;
Quite lank and lean Augustus grows.
Yet, though he feels so weak and ill,
The naughty fellow cries out still--
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today."

The third day comes; O what a sin!
To make himself so pale and thin.
Yet, when the soup is put on table,
He screams as loud as he is able--
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today."

Look at him, now the fourth day's come!
He scarcely weighs a sugar-plum;
He's like a little bit of thread,
And on the fifth day, he was---dead!

If you'd like to see the accompanying illustrations, you can find them on www.soupsong.com/iaugustu.html. So, my apologies for taking on such a bizarre handle, but it's got a lifetime of family associations...and certainly has a great deal to say about one's need for soup!