Culture.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Not here, I'm afraid :)
Anyhow, the topic this week, provided by Delores in Diane's continuing absence, is SOUP. Feel free to leave a poem in the comments on either of our blogs, or on your own blog (and if you do that, please leave a comment to let us know how to find you and cheer you on).
*****
Soup. Bloop. Goop. Why do the words that rhyme with soup sound so bad?
It shouldn't be like that, because soup is GOOD. It tastes good and it's good for you. In the winter hot soup warms us up, and in the summer cold soup cools us down.
You have to be careful, though. If you put too much stuff in soup, or make the broth too thick, then what you've got is -- well, that's in my poem.
I should warn you that I took a few liberties with words here. If you care deeply about everything related to writing being correct and proper, look away now.
*****
Soup Rules
Begin with a liquid, like water or broth
Cut up some veggies and add to the pot(h)
Put in some meat if you want to - or not(h)
Simmer 'til tender and soup's what you've got(h)
Eat on its own, or eat with some bread
If bread's not avail., then use crackers instead
If someone has eaten the crackers (hmm, Fred*?)
Throw in some croutons and eat soup in bed.
In winter make sure soup's unbearably hot
In summer make sure that hot is what it's not
(And one way to do this - it's only a thought -
Is making soup popsicles! . . . er . . . maybe not?)
Whatever the temp. is, I must caution you
When it comes to ingreds., you must use just a few
For if it's too thick, that will simply not do
If you're using a fork, it's not soup -- it is stew!
 |
Spoon for soup.Fork for stew.Meat tenderizer for protecting your meal from marauding thieves.(Photo: Pixabay) |
*This is Fred:
 |
Fred is standing in for Polly; he would like to know if you've bought more crackers yet.(Photo: Pixabay) |
*****
If you're wondering whether today's title Soup Rules means "rules for making soup" or if it means "soup is awesome", the answer is Yes.
*****
Wishing you a good week, with good food (whether hot, cold, or lukewarm) and well-behaved pets (whether feathered, furred, finned, or bare nekkid) . . .
NOTE TO DELORES: Want to tackle DRIVING next week?
Soup which can be eaten with a fork is called Stewp here. I get a bit carried away with winter vegie soup and stewp is the result.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your poem and wonder just who will be driven - and where next week,
Stewp - what a perfect word! Our soups are always thick, as well, but still require a spoon. I need to make a thicker one so I can use "stewp" . . .
DeleteNew week's poem is still a tiny seed in my brain. I hope it grows fast :)
Child: this raspberry popsicle tastes funny.
ReplyDeleteMother: because it's tomato soup.
I love your poem, but dislike cold soup, for me, soup has to always be hot.
Hahaha! I like your joke :)
DeleteYeah, I've never eaten cold soup, either. I just know it's a thing. A thing I can't say I want to try.
If this turns out to be a duplicate comment, feel free to delete one of them.
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to make soup for us to eat before our dinner, mostly out of beef stock from the meat he was cooking (from the cows we had raised, did I ever mention how well I ate as a child?) and some tomato-y stuff that I never paid enough attention to to know exactly how he made it.
When as adults we were sometimes very poor, we got by on many kettles of soup, that almost always tasted better the second day. The ingredients for a big pot of soup almost never seemed beyond our means, and many of them tasted better to me than the food I served when I was a line cook.
My housemate John makes an excellent vegetable soup, and he refuses to add anything starchy like potatoes or pasta so it's very different from my own cooking and I wish he made it more often.
Fred looks fabulous.
-Doug in Oakland
Soup AND stew are better the second day! It's funny how that works. And you're right, somehow vegetable soup without any starches does taste very different from soup with starches in. I used to make it without, then switched to with, to make it more filling, but it's a different beast. Excuse my appropriation of your internet name :)
DeleteWhat a wonderful chuckle. We need to find us a meat tenderizer. I recently had a flashback to mom's Swiss steak.
ReplyDeleteThey make nice heavy, metal tenderizers these days, Joanne. I have one and I don't use it for anything except crushing cat pills, but it's a bloody weapon. Cleans like a dream. I never trusted those wooden ones to be free of raw meat without a LOT of scrubbing, and not even then.
DeleteHa. The first stanza is my very favorite. You are so creative.
ReplyDeleteChicken! Hi! Good to see you! I didn't want to leave the first verse like that, but couldn't find three rhymes for "broth" or one word ending in "ot" that means broth. So I took the lazy (not creative) way out :)
DeleteMost of my soups are more like stews....the hubs likes them that way....that's my story and I'm sticking to it. DRIVING......I can steer around that theme...I think. Fun pme Jenny......I loke the creativity in rhyming.
ReplyDeleteI like my soup thick, too, Delores.
DeleteGood luck with "driving"! And I'm not sure about the creativity comment. I think I'm just flagrantly breaking the rules :)
Just Souped!
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteI enjoy a good bowl of soup.
ReplyDeleteYou're in good company, John!
DeleteI made stew today without knowing about the soup thing. It is almost done.
ReplyDeleteIt's only a "rule" if you want it to be, Susan :) Enjoy your soup/stew!
DeleteYour poem made me smile! You have a great sense of humor, and i like what you do with words.
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you! I love to make people smile :)
DeleteI once had cold strawberry soup in a restaurant. It was a hot day and it was delicious.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Now, that's one kind of cold soup I hadn't heard of (and my Google search as I was writing the poem didn't turn up). As much as cold vegetable-based soups don't appeal to me, strawberry soup definitely does.
DeleteEspecially if there was whipped cream involved :)
DeleteNo whipped cream. It was sweet, but light.
DeleteI love making soup but I usually make too much. What is left over, I put into a container, label it, and put it in the freezer in my basement for another time. There are occasions that I actually remember that it is there. More often, though, I find it a year or two later covered in ice crystals wondering what the heck it is.
ReplyDeleteAck - I hear you. I do that with a lot of things. My thinking goes like this: I'm putting this thing in the freezer for some day I'm in a hurry/eating on my own/husband is eating on his own/husband is eating something else and I want this thing instead. Then, that day never seems to come, or if it does I don't remember that the thing is in the freezer. Like I said, ACK. What a waste!
DeleteHAHA! This was fun, especially the part about it being stew instead of soup when it's too thick! LOL I'm guilty of that sometimes :) I LOVE a good soup with a sandwich to go with it. I make big batches, fill up the freezer and have a quick lunch on hand regularly. Makes meals so much easier around here!
ReplyDeleteYou sound very organized. Maybe you could give Arleen and I tips (see immediately above) :)
DeleteSoup rules! Thanks for this - I'm still chuckling! Hubby and I are both big fans of soup, but in our house having soup for supper is merely an excuse to bake fresh biscuits. Because 'soup and crackers' is 'lunch', but 'soup and fresh biscuits' is 'supper'. Yum!
ReplyDeleteYum, indeed! In our house baked beans are the signal for making biscuits. I think it's time to have soup be a regular trigger too :)
DeleteChicken soup is nourishing and fillin’.
ReplyDeleteThat’s why it’s known as Jewish penicillin.
It can fix a cold, or mend a broken heart.
In family tradition, it has played its part.
Feed it to your cats; feed it to your poodles.
Fill the bowl with dumplings and noodles!
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s vivaciously Verdant
Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
Awesome, bazza - thank you for your contribution!
DeleteMy son-in-law makes wonderful chicken soup. He adds a spoonful of sugar to it.
DeleteThat took ten minutes of my time but it was entirely spontaneous - my first poem!
Deletejabblog: I have never heard of adding sugar to chicken soup but it sounds intriguing!
Deletebazza: Your first?? I'd say you should keep on writing - that was excellent.
I like your little poem, you are very clever with words. English being my third language I can write it OK but as for writing poems …no way, I can only do that in French. As for soups, my mother did not like them she just made French onion soup which was delicious. I like soups though, but I also enjoy buying fresh ones already made at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s then add some more things to them – pretty good on a cold winter night with crusty French bread.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Vagabonde, and thank you. I think poetry and jokes would be the hardest things to write in a language that's not one's mother tongue! French onion soup is delicious. A completely different kind of soup.
DeleteThank you for that handy distinction between soup and stew!
ReplyDeleteLOL - glad to oblige :)
DeleteWow you did awesome job here dear Jenny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletefound this amazingly done poem "flawless" and "BRILLIANT"!
enjoyed it thoroughly
specially last lines made me laugh
i will definitely follow the rules strictly to make the difference between soup and stew lol
i am glad that your poetic nerve is activated fully in even freezing weather dear friend!
hugs and best wishes for days ahead!
Thank you, baili - you are always so encouraging, and I'm glad you got a laugh because that's what I intended :) Hugs, my friend!
DeleteOh, I love it! I like half-rhymes and word play and recognise too well soup that has become stew - or frost-infused 'something'.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I felt like it was cheating to use those words but you make it sound much better! I'll take it :)
DeleteWell in my head I was planning a variety of comments but then I read about being an excuse for bread and the comment I Have to make crystallised in my brain :
ReplyDeleteSoup is an excuse for toast under butter!
Do we need an excuse for toast under butter?? (I love the imagery; it gives butter its proper due!)
DeleteHey Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI liked your prose on soup
When it comes to prose I'm out of the loop
Of course, your rhyme was um souper
Mine was a blooper.
Gary, Gary, nary contrary....
A blooper? NEVER! Great poem - thanks, Gary!
DeleteI thought it was Fred. He looks the type.
ReplyDeleteMy older daughter loves soup. I'm not a great fan, but last time I was on a plane to the States I had pea soup and I have to say, it was vey nice! A brave thing to serve on a plane. :D
"He looks the type" - lol
DeleteI agree, pea soup is not something I would think would appeal to a great majority, although I like it myself. I suppose it's better to have it in a meal than to have pea soup fog to deal with. Is that just maritime humour?
Soup is pretty cool and it definitely rules in the winter time. Thank you for your poetry. It's awesome.
ReplyDeleteAnother soup-appreciator! Thank you for your kind compliment, Mr. S. I don't know if it's good or not but I have a lot of fun trying to write it.
DeleteIt's winter and it's time for soup
ReplyDeleteBut not the tinned and salty gloop
Lovely veggies fresh and bright
Simmer in the slow cooker all through the night
Add a cube of decent stock or maybe a tasty meaty hock
Stir it every now and then and grind some salt and pepper in.
Fill a pretty china bowl and serve it with a crusty roll
Great job, and I love that you used "gloop"!!
DeleteThanks for joining in again this week, Cherie!