When the party's over...

For me, soup is such a soothing thing. So the day after too much food, wine, and activity -- after the stay-over company went home -- I made up a pot of thick, aromatic comfort food to put myself and the super-spouse back into balance. Using the "whatever's in the fridge" method of ingredient selection, I cooked a vegetarian soup. And it did the trick.

What makes soup so comforting a comfort food? It's easy to eat and digest, for one thing, because its vegetables, lentils, grains etc. are well-saturated with flavorful liquid. That's also why it always tastes so good. And it SMELLS good, too. That fragrant steam raises our enjoyment quotient.

But there's more to it than that, something mysterious that the rational mind can't compute. Maybe soup triggers a primitive genetic memory. As long as as we have the light of the cooking fire and something simmering in the pot, we're safe once again from the sabre-toothed tiger. That sort of thing. Maybe.

I only know that this soup brought us around. And then we both slept long and late and awoke refreshed. Soup and sleep: two ready and reliable restoratives.

Learn to cook a good soup and you will always be able to take care of yourself and those you love. That's it. The secret of life. What could be simpler or more natural than that?
vegetarian food cooking soup