It all started with one bowl
The first time that I enjoyed a bowl of Chicken Tortilla soup was when I was about eight years old and I was visiting Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with my family. There is nothing like fresh soup. The kind of fresh soup where you have to blow on the spoon because it is way too hot. And that first bite takes your taste buds on an absolute journey of different flavors and textures. The spiciness from the chilies that are cooled down by the cheese and an added surprise of crunch with the top layer of tortilla chips. It was the best soup I had ever tasted, and it is still to this day, my all-time favorite soup.
We used to visit Cabo two times a year while I was growing up until I was about 13. My last time visiting I obviously could not bring a lifetime supply of chicken tortilla soup back to California with me being that it would be expensive and impossible because of customs. I begged my mom to make homemade chicken tortilla soup for me, but it never came out the same. At one point in time in high school, my aunt had made her own version of it, that was almost as tasty. Sadly, she moved to Texas and I haven’t had it sense. I wouldn’t call my love for chicken tortilla soup and addiction but I am not denying that I eat it once or twice a week. Usually when I go out to eat or when Sprouts has it in their “soup of the day” section in the front of the store. I long for the day that I return to Cabo and am reunited with the perfect taste of their homemade chicken tortilla soup.
I would relate chicken tortilla soup to my life. The broth is the base of my life. I picture this being my family, friends, boyfriend and of course, my dogs. The chilies are the obstacles in my life. They represent the bills that I have to pay and the school work that I procrastinate on. The corn, the cilantro and the garlic represent the things that bring me to life. Those including my passion for sports, hiking and traveling. The chicken represents my home in California. It’s the heartiness of the meal and is the heartiness to my life. Without chicken, there wouldn’t be chicken tortilla soup and without California I wouldn’t have a place to call “home.” The tortilla chips and the avocado are the things in my life that can be replaced. Sometimes you need them in your soup, other people do not want them in there. They can represent the things that we want in life but absolutely have need to have: cell phones, laptops, televisions, etc;. Once everything is put together in a stock pot and cooked together, things get hectic and swirled around. But, ones it is put into a bowl, before you know it, it is all gone.
