Soup of the Evening, Beautiful Soup

In Lewis Carroll's absolutely delightful Alice in Wonderland,  the Mock Turtle rhapsodized about "Soup of the Evening, Beautiful Soup." The poem goes like this:


     Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
     Waiting in a hot tureen!
     Who for such dainties would not stoop?
     Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
     Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
     Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
     Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
     Soo - oop of the e - e - evening,
     Beautiful, beautiful Soup!


     Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
     Game, or any other dish?
     Who would not give all else for two
     pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
     Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
     Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
     Beau - ootiful Soo - oop!
     Soo - oop of the e - e - evening,
     Beautiful, beautiful Soup!


This past weekend I watched, and occasionally helped, as Suzy made soup out of the carcass of our Thanksgiving turkey. She orchestrated the event, while I, can opener in hand, made short work of cans of garbanzo beans, black beans, Rotel Tomatoes, and whole kernel corn. Suzy poked in the cupboard, finding "Wacky Macaroni" as well as the above comestibles. She chopped onions, cubed potatoes, carrots, and celery. She pulled a kiolbasa from the refrigerator and I chunked it into the soup.


Suzy directed me to pour two cups of white wine (Wal-Mart's finest Oak Canyon 3-litre box Chardonnay) into the mix, and dump in the leftover gravy and broth from the Thanksgiving roast. Anything else that wasn't securely nailed down was apt to end up in the soup, except ... she added no seasonings whatsoever.


Five hours later, we scooped four quarts of turkey soup into freezer bags, and another quart into a plastic storage container to give to one of our friends here in the park -- Andre is a soup lover, and we love to share with him. This is becoming a Thanksgiving tradition with us.


I said Suzy used no seasoniongs whatever, no salt, no pepper, no sage, no poultry seasoning, nothing. And it tastes wonderful.


Was I Johnny-on-the-spot with the camera? Alas, no. I was so entranced with the project that I totally forgot to get you some pictures. All I can do is rhapsodize with Lewis Carroll's Mock Turtle:


     Soup of the Evening, Beautiful Soup!




If you are interested in Alice's Mock Turtle, he is a double pun upon the times that Lewis Carroll lived through. Turtle soup was expensive, and mock turtle soup was the vogue, so this Mock Turtle is a pun about that soup. Even more, mock turtle soup was made from the odd parts of the calf, those parts which weren't used for anything else: the head, the hooves, the less tasty meat, even the tail. In these drawings you can see that the Mock Turtle is part turtle, part calf. In the second drawing, the tail is not visible as it is in the first, which is the original artwork from the book.

We'll share the turkey soup together as we travel ... Our Life on Wheels.