I thought we’d do something a little different this Sunday, to honor the soup specially cooked up for me — that seems to have knocked back my winter cold within a week! Which would be a record for me and any cold. That chicken-noodle aroma filled our entire apartment, so I soaked in it for about six hours before I actually got to eat it on Monday night.

Let’s share Soup recipes this Sunday! I’ll bring the Badger Miracle Soup recipe (it has a secret store-bought ingredient that makes it very special!) and you bring your favorite life-saving or cold-killing soups. Clearly, we’re going to need them in the Land Of No Sick Leave!

No prizes, but bring some recipe cards; if I know the FDL crowd, there’ll be some Super Soups on offer!

I got my cold from a Safeway checker at my local store. I had already unpacked my purchases onto the conveyor belt when he turned from bagging the previous customer’s groceries. One look at him and I cried out, “Oh, you’re sick! You should go home!” I tried to rescue my few items but he’d already started pinging my purchases, getting his goopy hands all over them. He replied, completely congested: “I’d like to go home but the manager won’t let me, we’re so short-handed already!” Then he wiped his nose with the remainder of a tissue from his pocket and handled the rest of my groceries, turning away to sneeze on the customer in the adjoining lane as I protested. I know, GROSS.

I went to the manager, of course, and the lad was sent home forthwith. The following day, just as the cold was descending on me during a brisk neighborhood walk, we cut through the Safeway to stay dry on our way from the coffee shop to the streetcar. There was the same manager, checking out customers himself, with only one other checkout line open, and the ‘self-serve’ checkout waiting line about 10 deep. So I guess the manager decided to enforce the stay-home-if-you’re-sick rule.

To no avail, at least not for me. Even though I washed my hands immediately upon arriving home, and wiped all my groceries with Clorox Wipes (“Kills 99% of household germs~!”) that one-percent germ crept through and laid me low. But I’m better now, and I credit the soup, since Regular Colds usually knock me out for ten days minimum. Last February, I was sick all 29 days with a cold!

So let’s celebrate Soup on its “Souper” Day! Bring your favorite recipes to share — even if it’s only the sound of the can opener! — around at 8:01FDL time (11pm eastern) and we’ll decompress from whatever sporting event you might have been subjected to. And Share Soup!

Photo by Beth Olam under Creative Commons license