Introduction

After making it through my first 20 or so years of adulthood without owning a cookbook, I was delighted to get a Soup cookbook from friends JO & ES for Christmas 2003 when I was 40 years old. Since I don’t cook, I’ve never had any need for a food pantry; so, my first task was to clear off two shelves in my kitty pantry so I could stock soup ingredients. My second task was to bookmark a Website where I could look up cooking terms I didn’t know like “blanch” & “parboil.”

I began writing "The Soup Diaries" in January 2004, and I wrote the last entry in January 2005. I didn't date the entries, but all were written during that one-year period. This was before the widespread popularity and use of facebook, and before I was aware of the existence of blogs. I shared my “Diaries” with only a handful of family and friends via e-mail at the time.

I recently shared the initial installments of "The Soup Diaries" with my facebook friends, and several people have encouraged me to share them with a wider audience via a blog. As one friend put it, "Think of how many other non-cooks you'd be helping!" I'd never thought of it that way--I've been so worried about what people who are good cooks would think that I haven't thought about how my (mis)adventures might help other non-cooks like myself. I don't know how many people will find them helpful, but I hope those who read them will enjoy them. I'm not generally known for being funny, but some people who've read these have found them to be, at times anyway, mildly amusing. So, if you decide to follow me, thanks; and I hope you'll laugh with--and not at--me as I share my earlier entries and add new ones as I embark on my new adventures!

“Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup? Who soothes you when you are ill? Who refuses to leave you when you are impoverished and stretches its resources to give a hearty sustenance and cheer? Who warms you in the winter and cools you in the summer? Yet who also is capable of doing honor to your richest table and impressing your most demanding guests? Soup does its loyal best, no matter what undignified conditions are imposed upon it. You don't catch steak hanging around when you're poor and sick, do you?” ~Judith Martin (Miss Manners)