Final Thoughts

After any goal has been accomplished, reflection of the journey is a natural conclusion. Nothing is ever done without a reason, there is always some sort of justification or explanation. Even if it as minor as saying "just to see if I could do it". My reasons for doing this challenge were simple. I wanted to write, to do a fun and achievable challenge, eat good food, and I wanted to make new things.

What I learned was that soup can be made from a wide variety of ingredients. And that making soup recipes requires only a basic knowledge of soup preparation and the willingness to experiment. In my opinion, the key to a good soup is two things; A good base (stock or broth) and proper seasoning. You cannot be afraid to use salt (unless of course you have salt restrictions) because under salted soups can result in flat and muted flavors.

I was happy that this was only a 30 day challenge. Even though I love cooking, there was a lot of pressure to make something new everyday. Also, I became mildly obsessed with soup. I was always thinking of what soup to make next, constantly searching the internet for ideas when I should have been working, or thinking about soup while "meditating" during yoga.

Our grocery bill was a bit higher that month too, since I was making numerous grocery runs during the week to pick up chicken stock and other ingredients I might need. Soup can generally be in-expensive if you are making large batches. But making a lot of little batches and using a wide variety ingredients (especially using crab and lobster), is not economical.

Unfortunately, our freezer could only hold so many of my soups, so I was often eating soup for lunch and supper. As I eluded to in one of my previous posts, my meals were starting to resemble a Hollywood fad diet.

Now that this is finished, I don't want to stop blogging. I will move on to another idea. I will start a blog in the New Year called Around the World in 52 Weeks. The blog will be about foods, recipes and anecdotes about a different country every week. A majority of the countries will be ones that either I or my husband have visited, so it will come with our own personal stories embellished with my sense of humor.

So stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

Happy Holidays!!