Mappy Turksmas

Is anyone else annoyed by Christmas music playing before Thanksgiving? Anyone?

That aside, today is Thanksgiving, and my mom is having some big shindig out at the farm (down on the faaarm, enchiladas with cheeese...no, she's not making enchiladas, that's just an inside joke). I guess she's having her whole side of the family (well, her brothers/sisters/mom, not like the WHOLE FAMN DAMILY) out to the farm for the first.

I am bringing pumpkin soup. It was one of those recipes I get in the e-mail. I don't think I'll make it again. It's kind of bland, and it calls for WAY too many onions. Seriously, the whole kitchen just reeked of onions as it was simmering in the pot. When I added the heavy whipping cream, it neutralized the Onion Force a little, but then the soup was bland, sort of like, "Yeah, I could eat this...but why?" So I instead changed the flavor to something that's a combination of both savory and sweet by adding a little cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. And I've found it makes a better dipper for bread than just by itself as soup.

Anyway, it was a lot of work and little pay-off. You have to chop up all this fresh stuff (like FRESH thyme and parsley, not dried) and then simmer everything for half an hour...

Then comes the fun part: you get to take the soup, ONE CUP AT A TIME, and puree it in a blender. Then put it all BACK into the pot and simmer again for another half hour.

And yay, you have bland oniompkin soup...

(Seriously, it called for an entire cup of chopped onion...in a soup with no whole vegetables or meat.....ONIONNNN!!!)

Oniompkin. That's a new word. Maybe I should cultivate such a thing. So that kids can cry when they carve their Halloween jack o' lanterns. And then you can turn it into Thanksgiving soup. Just scoop out the candle and puree and heat. Enjoy with ennui and a side of general malaise.

ONIOMPKIN!!!

I'm a little goofy today. Maybe I just enjoy having the day off. I'll be so glad to finally work in my new job at Securities America. Yeah, it's research and requires thinking, but I can go at my own pace instead of having all these daily internal deadlines and a schedule to get tons of checks out the door.

So, the shindig at the farm...this should be interesting. I wonder if I'll get to hear more political arguments...not debates - arguments. And I probably will. That's OK. Have some oniompkin soup, and all your cares will melt away - make the conversation and life as boring as this soup. That's the power of oniompkin.

"Oniompkinhead???"

Oniompkinhead, the Demon of the Blahs. He shows up when you're having a great time (or horrible) and suddenly everything's like "Hm...well, this is okay, I guess..."

"EVIL WITCH: For each of man's evils, a special demon exists. You're looking at Mediocrity."

Mostly I'm just annoyed by the amount of time, groceries and effort it took to make that soup.

Okay, well, I better go. Mappy Turksmas, everyone!