Beef & Barley Soup

Memories of soup. I can timeline my life on memories of the hot stuff. As a child, who can forget the sweet tomato version from the famous red & white can, dunked with a grilled cheese triangle? Later, in grade school, I remember asking my mom for "long-noodle soup" like it was the best lunch on the planet. Little did I know that when college hit, this exotic delight would turn into my worst nightmare...me, concocting 472 different ways to make Ramen more interesting. I look back now and shudder at some of my worst college culinary experiments to date ~ like ramen noodles melted with government cheese and the spice packet “sprinkled” on top. What can I say? Times were tough and I think I made $4.50 an hour at my part time job. I had to get creative!! J

When I met my husband, my soup-making skills improved somewhat. I managed a great chili and chicken noodle. But I had my moments – like when a potato dumpling soup “sat in my gut like wallpaper paste” he reminds me, “but I ate every last drop with a smile”. Ya, my hubby was a real trooper through some of my learning phases. The things you’ll do for love!

Fast forward to my adult stint at the coffee house – where soup to combat the harsh Wyoming winters was a daily staple, and I got my practice at making hundreds of gallons of the stuff. From Hungarian mushroom & Cuban black bean, to pork pozole I was a soup-making SOUPERSTAR, never to gut-bomb anyone with wallpaper paste again!

Some things truly never change –despite how we have seemingly grown up. We all laugh about the things we ate as a child – scoffing at our crude and unrefined palates, rolling our eyes at the foolish tastes of a child. All the while dunking our grilled panini into a cup of creamy tomato bisque!