Stuck to the bottom

'Tis the season for soups! I love to sit down to a steamy bowl of hearty soup, as the weather frosts up the windows outside. They are also fun to make. Sometimes I loosely follow a recipe, but most often I just throw in whatever I feel like.

Somehow I ended up making a Soup of the Week for a few weeks in a row. One week it was turkey soup. I like the turkey necks as opposed to chicken necks, I think it has more flavor, and of course more meat on the bone, due to its bigger size. I usually only use green vegetables, since I have an aversion to any remotely sweet vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, parsnips, etc. I favor leeks, zucchini, onions, potatoes, dill, (no parsley), scallions, sometimes mushrooms, green peppers. For spices I keep it simple, salt and pepper. The dill adds a lot of flavor.

Last week I made a tomato soup. It came out very thick and hearty. I added chopped up vegetables, so I let it cook for awhile. Unfortunately, I wasn't watching it so closely, and the bottom of the pot ended up burning. It took me days to scrub the burnt stuff off.

Once the pot was clean, I was in the mood to cook again. This week I made a mushroom-barley-split pea soup. My mother used to make it all the time when I was little, and while mine did not come out quite as good as my mother's, it still tastes pretty great. The process involves cooking the split peas for about an hour until they are tender, (including any vegetables you feel like adding), and then adding the barley and letting it cook for another while. Of course, I forgot to watch the pot and the barley stuck to the bottom. I managed to coax them back to life, and my soup did not burn.

There are many analogies I can find between life, and a pot of soup. One of them that struck me was action, or inaction. Either you are moving, or you are stuck. Stagnant is not a healthy state to be in.

When you stir the soup, it bubbles merrily, it cooks as it should. If you let it sit and don't watch it, it can burn, it can get stuck to the bottom, which will require major clean up afterwards.

We have to be constantly moving in our life, physically and spiritually. Bump up your exercise routine. Make time to learn new things, in Torah and in other areas. If not, you will become lethargic, your life will become stasis. This is not good.

Don't get stuck on the bottom. Keep moving!

Have a good week, and be sure to try out your favorite soup recipes :)