YESTERDAY'S SOUP. [Re-write of an article from 2003]

How it gets to the refrigerator is insignificant, no consequence… incidential. A doggy bag from an evening out. The end of the pot that was just too much to throw away. The remnants of an old fashion [from] scratch homemade kitchen stock - "does anyone do that anymore?"

Soup is not a regular part of our lives. It's not a regular at the family dinner table, and less frequently is it a main meal. Then again - the family dinner table - well… she ain't what she used to be either. It's modern times now. Got to motor! Microwave. Outta the bag. Outta the can. Outta the flash frozen pouch! Frozen freshness, microwaved in plastic... "Yummerz!" Fergit garden fresh - "ya' mean from the supermarket vegetable aisle, right?" Fergit the kitchen all together, "Let's just eat out!"

A few years ago I first saw the heartier styles watching visual prozac (television). Hmmm, hmmm good! These new soups had more chunks, the broth is thicker and the aroma - hell, it sure smelled good watching the commercial - "I bet it's pretty damned good in the stovetop pot, too" (my mind assured me). The voice from the box told me, "You're not a baby anymore - you need adult soup!" Okay! I drive down to Big Y - "needa know for myself."

And, the soup actually was good - you know… these heartier, thicker adult soups seemed better than their ancestors. [Though secretly I'll still crack open a can of Cambells' tomato soup, add some Oyster Crackers until they are good and mushy and feel my frontal lobe fill with fond memories of yester-year with each spoonful.]

But. Alas. All that is incidential.

What is important is that there is a remnant of soup in the refrig. Basic rule: The thicker the soup, the better - though Chinese Take-Out Wonton Soup works, too. I don't know why it works. You take it outta the 'frig after its been there for a night, scrape out that little layer of fat scum that forms along the sides of the cold plastic container. Get right to the Wontons, and then sip the broth as a drink. You'll only know it if you've done it.

Okay, okay! The type of soup doesn't really matter after all is said and done. That you like it [whatever soup it is] - is the key. A good soup gets one's mind away from finding WMD's. Makes ya' think, "If she (or he) cooked like that more often we wouldn't be thinkng about the divorce." I guess a doggy bag (tub?) from Olive Garden is as good as homemade - though I'm not sure if OG will pack it up for you.

The importance of yesterday's soup is that it has a flavor that only "overnight" can create. You can't buy that flavor. You can't add it "on the spot, in a hurry or quick as a jiff!" Nope. It's only comes from whatever it is that the refrig' does to it. The melding of ingredients and their flavors. The divine intervention of Frigid-aire Frost Free Fairies? The secret micro-organisms that make it… better the second time around. Yesterday's Soup.