Ladies beware. Someone at local soup shops is spiking women’s soup with basil! When I say beware, I mean… thank goodness!! Last week, I was at a local soup bar, quietly eating my zucchini tomato soup, which was lovely. I put down my soup for a minute to tie my shoe. I heard a strange whirring sound at the bar, but figured it was someone’s cell phone. I got up, took another spoonful, and thought, “why is my soup suddenly more delicious than before?” Then I saw out of the corner of my eye, a sneaky little man spiking another woman’s soup! He dropped in the basil, whipped out his mini-immersion blender, pureed the soup, and sneaked away. I ran over to her just as she was about to take another spoonful. “Stop!! Beware!!” I said. “Your soup tastes even MORE like summer in a bowl! Basil! Basil!!” She replied, “Oh thank goodness you told me! And thank goodness for basil!” Amen to that!!

I’m sure you were as devastated as I was this week when reading the news. All I wanted to know was why? Why, why, why, Al and Tipper Gore? Why? So I did a little investigating – turns out it was over this soup. They both claimed to have come up with the recipe. Al said, “I love roasted cauliflower. It tastes almost nutty – like toasted almonds. And you know how I love almonds – not in moderation. I like them a lot.” Tipper replied with, “I was the one to find a farmer with parsnips in June. Parsnips have a natural sweetness that I absolutely love. I knew parsnips and roasted cauliflower would blend together perfectly.” While they make great points about the soup, neither one mentioned the ingredient that brings it all together – dill. Cooling, mellow, dill. Soupermom came up with that one. But really, if an argument over soup can bring down a marriage, well maybe a separation isn’t such a bad idea. And clearly this is one heck of a good soup.