Balsamsuppe

Number One Son woke with a fever this morning, just in time to miss his best friend's birthday party (ice skating!). Adding insult to injury, not only is his head splitting, but it's the beginning of midwinter break. It seems this always happens to him: when he had chicken pox, he broke out Friday after school, scratched for a week, and the last pox healed up the following Sunday, just in time for him to return to school. Poor kid.

I reach into the larder for the making s for yet another batch of magic chicken soup. Magic for the sparkles (the oil droplets glistening on the surface), magic for the word noodles (colorful alphabet pasta), and magic for the love.


Next to my jar of magic noodles is a packet of instant soup I picked up from the health store in Germany (they call it a Reformhaus, which I think makes it sound like a place for recovering addicts). The mix is for Kerbelcremesuppe, chervil cream soup, a delicate, elegant, summer garden-party kind of soup, and one of my favorites. The label reads, in part:

Die Suppe gehört nicht nur zu den beliebtesten Lebensmitteln; eine gute Suppe kann auch Balsam für die Seele sein. (Soup is not just one of the most popular foods; it can also be balm for the soul.)

I couldn't agree more, and Number One is clearly more chipper for it.