MARIANNE STORIES #23

May 23
Here is a bittersweet true story guaranteed to make you smile. I did NOT smile at the time! LOL I made a delicious lentil soup today. It really was good. As anyone who cooks can tell you, you can make something the same way many times, and it can be a little different in taste each time. 

Back to the lentil soup. It was good. Pop was reflective while eating it. A little bit of history helps at this point. 

When I first began making lentil soup, I would sometimes add some ham, bacon, or the little smoked franks for added flavor and heft. Mom always liked when I did that, and I usually did everything I could to add different tastes to get her to eat while she underwent cancer treatments. 

After Mom died and I became the sole cook in the house, Pop told me not to make the lentil soup with the smoked franks, he wanted it plain. I complied with his wishes, and I haven't made the soup with any meat in it since 2007, the year Mom died. 

Today, while eating his soup, Pop began talking about his 3rd career-after retirement-while working in a bank where he was entitled to eat in the dining room. He said that he remembered eating lentil soup there and the chef had made it with the little smoked franks. He said it was delicious, and asked me if I would ever consider making it that way. "Not that I want to tell you what to do, but I think it would be a good idea to try it that way maybe once, just to see how it would come out." 

 My spoon stopped in mid-air, just inches from my mouth. I said, "What did you just say?" He repeated it. I told him I always used to make it that way and that he didn't like it and told me not to make it like that ever again. Of course, he denied it, and asked me sharply where I would ever get an idea like that. "Do you think you could do it like that, just once?" 

I'm no psychologist, but I studied enough psychology and read enough of it for fun to have an idea of what the little smoked franks were all about. I think they were tied to my Mom, and anything I prepared that she liked and was not around to enjoy was distasteful to him. Now he's moved on enough to want to try the little smoked franks in the lentil soup. Of course, without a doubt, I will comply! The very next time. Love you, Pop!