There are so many variations that can be birthed from the ingredients in your fridge. A simple chicken noodle soup could be a hearty vegetable soup the next day and a creamy concoction the next. It is simply your perspective on the ingredients that you have to work with. I find it rather annoying when someone feels they have to run to the store to create something exactly the way they think it should be. I say, put radishes in, if you don’t have any celery. Add some bok choy if you don’t have cabbage. Soup is forgiving, it’s not demanding and it won’t ask you to be someone who you’re not, so don’t stress about the lack thereof.

I remember my sister and I sitting on the back porch tearing yesterday’s newspaper into small ragged pieces and placing them into an empty can. Probably one of my grandmother’s #Folgers cans, you know the red one with the plastic lid? We used those as vessels to fulfill our need for the melty gooey, chocolatey goodness that would soon tangle our fingers in a web of mallowy strands and #cocoa smear. If I had to choose a house that I missed, it was this house with the huge backyard where we often watched the deer drink from the pond and the trees overflow with black walnuts, pears and apples. We were young and naive and had no real appreciation for the seasonal jewels that rolled across the forest floor. I mean, we ate the occasional fruit and cracked a few nuts now and again but nothing too serious. I remember seeing our next door neighbor gathering the nuts in the evening to crack for an evening snack.