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Here’s a hot but watery take for you: I’m done with soup.
Not forever, dear Dish readers, but I do think it will be quite some time before a steaming bowl of soup passes across my palate.
My beef with broth (har har) comes in large part from being laid up with COVID a couple weeks back. Every day, I’d end up groggily hunched over a bowl of something or other for lunch or dinner (or both).
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Of course, there was the no-brainer, the classic: Lipton chicken soup, the kind that comes in a pouch and features those tiny, thin noodles. You really can’t mess that up.
Then the next day, there was a can of Italian wedding soup graciously picked up by my partner. I don’t remember the brand, or maybe I’ve repressed it, because if those tiny, uniformly shaped (and oddly greyish) meatballs ever end up in my bowl again, I’ll riot.
This bowl of Italian wedding soup, from the Free Press archives, looks far more palatable than the canned version I choked back while convalescing. (Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press files)
The next day, my partner ordered some wonton soup for us for dinner from a local eatery that shall remain nameless. The wontons were decently tasty, but the pudgy noodles were bland and the broth in which they lurked equally flavourless.
This delicious looking bowl of wonton soup features fine noodles, unlike the broth-bloated ones lurking in my recent bowl. (Jessica Lee / Winnipeg Free Press files)
The bright spot of my sickly, soupy sojourn was homemade, naturally — a ramen dish we make on the regular, with both chicken and tofu options. But the damage seems to have been done, at least for now. For the next little bit, I’ll stick to things that are chewy or crunchy or crispy.
I think I’m also breaking up with soup because I think of it as cold-weather food and I’m really ready for winter to be done. Yes, spring is officially sprung as of early next week, but until the mercury really starts to rise and things start legitimately melting, I ain’t buying it. I want spring food and spring temperatures, and I want them now.
Pink wine? Being poured outdoors? Yes please. (Alvaro Barrientos / The Associated Press files)
The thought of warmer temps also has me pining for drinks that are at their best in spring and summer. I audibly whimpered at a local private store this week when I saw a display of rosé wines. A Chilean Sauvignon Blanc I tried recently had me daydreaming about fresh salads and dining al fresco. A local pilsner had me wistfully recalling the enjoyment of a post-lawnmowing brew in the summer. I mean, I was pining for cutting the grass — what is wrong with me?
I’ll have one last hearty stout for St. Patrick’s Day before moving into lighter, fresher beers (and wines) in the days and weeks to come. (Hot tip: Kilter Brewing’s Vintage Irish Stout is excellent.)
As for soup… well, talk to me in gazpacho season.
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