January 2, 2026
Quick soup for Friday happy hour on another chilly night at #vanaprastha. “Good but not extraordinary,” said Keith. Stories and the recipe with notations tomorrow on my Substack.
Our first happy hour of the new year, and we talked about current events from a historical perspective—both of us history majors. Specially, the oppressive regime in Iran, rampant inflation, economic collapse, emigration of those who can afford to leave, and massive protests—the “hunger” revolution—among those who can’t.
“I’m praying for the Iranian people,” I say to Keith, “because when a totalitarian government falls, an equally repressive regime usually replaces it.” Totalitarian leaders promise everything, but they always end up impoverishing their people to feather their own nests. As historian Lord Acton said, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Humans can’t help themselves, a certainty to keep in the front of our minds, and another: civilization is fragile; democracy, freedom, equality of rights even more so, because it asks us to be our better selves.
Which brings me to last night’s ‘flexible’ soup recipe and Keith’s “good but not extraordinary” accurate assessment. If recipes don’t turn out—case in point, the chocolate brownie mint sandwich cookies I made before Christmas—or are less yummy than the ingredient list led me to believe, I pitch them and try something else. But last night’s soup was good in the way people can be good, worth tweaking. So, I’m keeping this recipe with notations.
As always, your suggestions and/or comments are both welcomed and appreciated!
Quick Soup, another flexible recipe based on Basic Necessities Soup Cookbook
Ingredients:
½ pound thick bacon fried until nearly crisp—1 pound and save half for BLT’s.
1 onion chopped
Bell peppers, any color, chopped—I used 1/2 each red, yellow, orange
1 small jalapeno, chopped
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can jalapeno pepper stewed tomatoes or plain—couldn’t find former, added fresh jalapeno
1 can beef broth—2 cups
Season to taste—I added 1 tsp salt
Lemon or lime—didn’t use
Sour cream or plain yogurt
Grated cheese
Tabasco
Directions:
Fry bacon until nearly crisp, drain on paper towels, reserve fat. Cook onion in bacon fat, add bell peppers and jalapeno. Add black beans, kidney beans, corn, stewed tomatoes, and beef broth. Heat; serve with lemon or lime wedges; top with sour cream, cheese, and crumbled bacon.
That’s it for today. See you next week! -C.D.
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