Tuesday, November 16, 2010

My Onion Soup Story

Picture from French Onion Soup Page, a blog by Ron Schnell who is a true onion soup connoisseur. This image from the Grizzley House - Banff, AB, Canada. Read about this and other great onion soups from everywhere on Ron's blog and find out about Ron himself. Onion soup is only one of his many interests.


My daughter groans when I tell this story because she has heard it too many times and is not a fan of onions anyway. But it is a vivid memory for me and one I think of whenever I have French onion soup.

I was working at a trade show in Washington, D.C. It was my first visit there and I was excited, but I was also sick. I had a runny nose, sore throat, tight chest, muscle aches and just wanted to go back to bed. I tried to tell my boss I was sick but he just said he didn't feel good either and did I want a cold pill? So I was stuck working on my feet all day with high heels and no time for lunch.

When I finally made it up to my room at 7:00 p.m. all I wanted was a drink, a hot meal and a hot bath but I couldn't find a room service menu. I called to the desk and asked for a menu. I waited. I called a second time with no results. Finally, I called the restaurant and asked if they had French onion soup and a double whiskey sour.

They delivered a big steaming crock of soup with a slab of crusty toast floating in the broth and covered with a thick layer of melted cheese and a very large, very strong, icy cold whiskey sour. The hot soup and jolt of alcohol brought beads of sweat to my forehead, tears to my eyes, and cut a scorching path down my sore throat and through the congestion in my chest all the way down to my empty stomach. I finished my supper, ran the hottest bath I could stand, took some medicine, and dived under the covers, alternately shaking with chills and burning up with fever for the rest of the night. I was still sick the next day but that is one of the BEST meals I ever had.

3 comments:

  1. well, my friend...i LOVE this topic...one of my favorites ONION SOUP !!! and i don't like onions either....but i LOVE onion soup...

    i usually make mine out of Julia Child or the one in my most favorite cookbook {now out of print...but i have seen it on alibris} A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price....the BEST cookbook ever!!!!!

    :-)
    kary
    xxx

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  2. Mary and Vincent Price?? Interesting. My daughter doesn't like onions but she likes onion rings. Go figure.

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  3. I love good onion soup. You needed one more double Whiskey Sour and you would have been well by morning. haha

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