Last Sunday Soup of 2010

Tonight was the last Sunday Soup of 2010. Time does fly when you're eating soup with friends and family! It's been a big year around here and SS has gone through some changes. There was the second annual SS in May, Sunday Salad, hosted by the Sous Chef and the Pastry Chef when I was on my book tour, a hiatus in July and another in October. And we also lost one of SS's greatest fans, my grandmother (see post below).

Another change is we only have SS on the first Sunday of each month (which apparently still does not mean I will have my act together enough to blog each month as I totally forgot in November). All in all, it's been a wonderful year though and I'm glad the SS tradition will carry on, even if it is just once a month.

It's actually a good thing because we found out that I'm allergic to potatoes. Thanks to the Southerner's excellent use of deductive reasoning. For years either he or the Sous Chef has had to cut up the potatoes when we made the soup because otherwise I would have a hay fever-like reaction. Turns out, all those stomach aches? Yeah...potatoes! Who knew? Apparently, The Southerner. He said, "Ummm...maybe if you're allergic to the peels, you're allergic to the potatoes." Turns out, he was right. Once a month he gets to be right. I was glad that's how he used his opportunity in August. And if we had soup every week now, I don't know how I could possibly come up with that many soups and not use potatoes! Seems impossible to me.

Tonight was a very nice, quiet evening. Chili was on the menu, along with some of my regular bread and The Fleece Lady's wonderful red pepper dip. We also had mandarin oranges and vanilla tea and red wine too. And of course, lots of candles and a fire in the woodstove. They've all left me to clean up (surprise, surprise!) but they had good reason...tonight is the island's holiday choir concert. I hope they all have a wonderful time. And after I'm done...perhaps I'll have that last glass of wine and read a book with the cats in front of the fire. Sounds like a good way to end SS for the year. How about you?

Happy holidays to you all and Happy New Year (a bit early, but you can hang on to the sentiment). Have a great week, and eat lots of soup!