Soup Diary 120106

I've fallen behind on soup diary entries over the past couple of weeks. The main reason is that I haven't really had anything worth writing about, just a series of uninspiring cups of bland broth, usually with chicken, or flabby vegetables or too much cheddar-- something hot to start a meal, but little else. But yesterday, I went to Fables for the first time in almost five months, and that (as you may know) is where my soup fetish was born. I was so psyched to be there for lunch, that I even ordered the "duet" of soups-- two cups, so I didn't have to choose between the two options that I had never before tried! They were Beef Burgundy Barley and Meatball Brodo. Sad to say, the Beef Burgundy was pretty ordinary, no more flair than a can of Campbell's Beef Barley (though it was clearly homemade). maybe if there had been more than two tiny chunks of meat mixed in with the copious barley kernels it would have been more of a treat. The Meatball Brodo was better-- a mildly piquant broth with tender meatballs (more than two) and savory leaves of spinach. If it wasn't quite up to some of Fables more legendary offerings, it at least allowed me to leave the table with a degree of optimism about my next visit. And in these troubled times, that's something, isn't it?