When I was a little girl, I had a horrible fear of ginger. Every night, before I went to sleep, I made my dad check under the bed and in the closet for stray ginger. The thought of even a bit of ginger powder spilled on the floor made me dive for the covers. Finally, one night, my mother had had enough. “What would so terrible if we did indeed find ginger under your bed??” I didn’t have an answer, but I refused to change my ways. Finally, she decided to make me a triple ginger butternut squash soup to help me face my phobia. I loved butternut squash and it was painful for me to see her mix it with frightening ginger. Don’t tell anyone, but I slept with a butternut squash every night until I was fifteen. Anyways, my mom put in every type of ginger imaginable – fresh, powdered, and even crystallized ginger!! And you know what? It was delicious. The ginger came alive in the soup. It tickled my tongue with every bite. And of course, the butternut squash was sweet and almost creamy. Of course, her scheme worked. After that I insisted on sleeping with butternut squash in my bed, and fresh ginger underneath.

When I was a little girl, I won this contest and got to visit the most magical place on earth – Willy Wonka’s Chickpea Factory (located a bit behind and to the left of the chocolate factory which is SO overrated!). Willy Wonka himself was a bit weird. He only hung out with the factory workers – the garbanzos – who sang this irritating song – “chickpeas, chickpeas, chickpeas are grand, we like to eat them whenever we can.” Whatever. So we toured the whole factory and saw chickpeas morph into all kinds of things like hummus, spreads, soups, and so much more!! In the soup room, I saw this recipe lying on the ground and I couldn’t resist. Chickpeas, carrots, crushed red peppers flakes, tomato, garlic all pureed together? Even as a seven year old, I knew I had found something special. I slipped it in my pocket and saved it all these years. Willy caught me and kicked me out, which I thought was a little extreme. But nothing compared to what happened to Veruca Spice – she ate a chickpea and turned into a giant vat of garlic hummus (now available at Trader Joe’s).

According to most history books, Marie Antoinette uttered that famous phrase “Let them eat cake” when learning that the French peasants had no bread. Unfortunately, Queen Marie was misquoted! She actually said, “let them eat pureed apple, lentil, sweet potato soup!” Her cook had just made this delightful soup with some winter fruits and vegetables he found in the pantry. She just loved the way the sweet apples, sweet potatoes, and carrots blended so well with the hearty, earthy lentils. The gentle pinch from the ginger and chili powder rounded it out so well! “The peasants will love this,” she thought! “Who wants bread when you can have this fabulous soup, full of taste and so healthy!” So she invited some peasants over for dinner and they agreed! The soup was fabulous! But then the cook ran out of soup because sweet potato season came to an end. The peasants got mad and decided to start the French Revolution. A wee bit of an over-reaction if you ask me. But just in case, you should probably order enough soup for everyone in your family.