Soup Diary 110315

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of Popeye cartoons, and as a consequence, firmly believed in the almost mystical powers of spinach. This was easy in part because I don't think my mom ever served us spinach (I don't think she liked it), so I had no idea what it actually tasted like until I was probably in my teens. It's probably no surprise that by the time I did taste the stuff I found it borderline offensive, and since by then I was no longer in thrall to Popeye, it was easy to decide not to eat it anymore. So years and years went by until I tried the stuff again. In fact the next time I recall tasting spinach, it was in the form of a souffle with eggs and cream and cheese, and it was really, really good. So once again, I became a fan of spinach. I still didn't eat it all that often, probably most often as a salad green rather than in cooked form, or as an addition to soup or a casserole where it wasn't necessarily the dominant flavor, but added a nice complement to the other ingredients. I honestly don't remember ever having Cream of Spinach soup until I ordered it at one of my favorite Los Angeles restaurants last week, a place called Jan's on Beverly Boulevard-- I think I've eaten there at least once on every visit I've made to the city, and always been wholly satisfied with their various dishes. The Cream of Spinach soup was no exception, in fact almost surprisingly good-- a very definite spinach flavor, but tempered by a nice mild creamy broth and a slight hint of onion. Very, very tasty. It also seems like something I might be able to make for myself, though I write that a lot in this space but rarely follow through (at least, so far). Maybe if I can somehow self-hypnotize myself into re-believing it will give me bulging muscles, that will be sufficient motivation to get out the pot and whip up a batch.