There’s no place like home(made soup)
My favorite kind of soup is chicken noodle. This delicious blend of noodles, vegetables and chicken can be made dozens of different ways. I’ve had it a variety of ways and places and it always makes me feel a little bit better than I had before. Chicken noodle soup is a classic that goes back to traditional roots and reminds me of family and being at home.
The first thing that reminds me of chicken noodle soup is being at my grandma’s house. She always makes chicken noodle soup for me when I go home. Usually, she makes the soup because I’m either sick or had my braces tightened. Every time I go home I am usually going through one of these two things and she always knows how to make me feel better.
My grandma’s chicken noodle soup is special because she makes it with love. Cheesy, I know but it’s true. Every time I cook it comes out tasting like crap and it’s because I don’t have the patience or time to read the directions. My grandma makes sure to stir it and add all of the correct spices, making it the most delicious pot of soup ever.
She starts with large egg noodles, my favorite. I honestly don’t know each step even though she has tried to teach me many times. However, I know that she adds in chicken, celery, carrots and a bunch of spices. There is a certain spice that is shaped like a round ball. There are only several added to the soup for flavor and I always end up with one in my bowl. We always joke that one day I’m going to choke on it and it’s going to be her fault.
My grandma grew up in rural New Mexico on a ranch and learned how to cook from my great-grandma. On the ranch, they raised cattle, horses, chickens and a variety of other animals. I love hearing my grandma’s stories about growing up on the ranch and living in the ‘good old days.’ I get to relive these days once a year at the family reunion. This reunion actually takes places at my great-grandma’s old schoolhouse. Here there are no bathrooms, just outhouses. In this old ghost town in White Oaks, New Mexico, is where my great-grandma was raised and has her best memories. She tells me about the times she got in trouble in class and road horses around the countryside as a girl. My great-grandma is 95 and is still around dancing to country music and making delicious soup herself.
I am proud to be from a family of strong women that are of course great cooks, but also are very independent and accomplished. My grandma is divorced and raised my mom and her brother as a single mother. She cooked three meals a day for her family while working a full-time job and managing a small farm. She encourages me to push myself and make everything in my life the best it can be, even if it’s soup.
When I leave for the weekend from my grandma’s house, I am always sad and missing home. My favorite thing about her house is that it is very peaceful. She has several acres of land in a small town and has worked her entire life to making it beautiful. She built everything from the ground up including the windmill, house and even the chicken coop.
I loved growing up and getting the eggs from the chickens then having a fresh meal. I chose the title “There’s no place like homemade soup” because growing up my favorite movie was The Wizard of Oz and my grandma’s house reminds me of that blissful time in my life when I would dress up as Dorothy and sing along.
I would like to one day learn how to make my grandma’s chicken noodle soup but I know I could never make it as good as her.
