THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR (NO, NOT THAT ONE)

365 Days of Thanksliving — Day 295

Did ya know that tomorrow, Tuesday, September 22, at precisely 7:05 p.m. CDT, the Fall Equinox occurs? That means the first day of fall is right on our doorstep. Wahoo!

If you can’t tell, I love fall… except for the raking leaves part. I need me one of those giant yard vacuums to just suck those bad boys right up. Hahaha!

You know Fall is here when the temps drop, the old ladies grab their sweaters and shawls, and some anonymous person at church turns the heat on all the thermostats. Ahem! Just saying; someone’s getting a bit overzealous, don’t ya know! But hey, don’t look at me. I prefer the indoor environment a bit nippy. I refuse to turn on the heat until it’s an absolute must. Anyway, I digress.

While today is still technically summer, it’s feeling a whole lot like autumn: cool, damp, rainy… kinda like England or Seattle in the winter, hehehe. Despite it still being summer and all, we didn’t care. As far as this house was concerned, today marked the start of… SOUP SEASON, y’all.

Ya, you heard it. It’s that most wonderful time of the year. Sure, most people think that’s Christmas. But IMHO, that’s soup season. We kicked off our autumn bisque-fest with a ginormous bowl of homemade chicken tortellini soup—well, mostly homemade. We didn’t make the tortellini (although it would be fun to learn how).

As we slurped our soup, we both opined about our childhood favs. On the Divine side (Danielle’s maiden name), was her mother’s “rice soup”—not wild rice soup like Danielle makes (which is totally delicious, mind you). No, not that. Her mom’s rice soup was ungodly plain, boring, bland, and white… made with white rice, butter, broth, carrots, and celery, with everything cooked to death.

Me? No thanks. If the wifey wants it, she can make it; but it isn’t for me. Just like one of my favs growing up: my mother’s split pea soup with ham. While my mom wasn’t the best everyday cook, her soup was off da hook! But NO…. Dani doesn’t like split pea, so we can’t have it.

Do I have ya laughing yet? This is what we call marriage compromise. Hehehe.

As we giggled and picked on each other, we talked about expanding our soup repertoire. Our friend Dennis makes an out-of-this-world ham and bean soup, but he refuses to spill the sauce to his recipe. What’s with that, D?

So, today, I’m thankful fall is here, because fall means soup season. And well, so many other wonderful things, like football games, autumn colors, Thanksgiving, and so much more.

Today, instead of telling me what you’re thankful for, do me a solid: tell me your favorite soup recipe (and a short story behind it).

Anywho friends, I’ll see ya tomorrow when the calendar officially flips to fall.