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Celery, bay leaf, I think I'd stop there unless Chef John has some fresh herb he uses for such things. I know. He uses poblano peppers finely diced in his Louisiana red bean soup with steamed rice molded in a small ramekin plopped on it.

Speaking of Chef John, I've now made my second batch of creme fraiche.

Youtube Chef John's Creme Fraiche

I got a real bargain on a bunch of heavy cream, 6 pints for $6. I had to fight for it, lucky I sent my daughter to the store with screen captures of the sale that week and orders to get a rain check if sold out. The sale ticket was off their web page but since I had the screen capture for how it was the previous day and that week's sale wasn't over yet, they had to honor it. It was back up to about $3.29 a pint.

Checked the price and see the store brand quart is on sale for $3.99 which is a good price but I don't need any more yet and it's really for special stuff because it's so rich.

I made scallops gratin with my creme fraiche among other things and used some heavy cream for bay scallop chowder. Ir was heavenly tearing a toasted slice of french bread in half lengthwise and dipping it in the scallop/chicken broth/creme fraiche juice. I didn't have any of the shallower ramekins (for creme brulee) which would have worked better and couldn't use white wine because of daughter.

Scallop Gratin - Chef John - Youtube

That crab soup looks delightful but very expensive for quality crab meat here, and 2 pounds is extra generous. I use the fake stuff.

I've been looking at using Cream of Shrimp soup as a base for some kind of shrimp bisque, doctor it up with some creme fraiche, some Old Bay, fresh herb of some kind if I have it which I usually don't. There was a recipe recently for something like that on Just a Pinch website only I would change a couple things.

Crab and Shrimp Soup

Yes, on a new recipe I go very sparingly with herbs and seasonings and I forgot she used cr of chicken instead of cr of shrimp. I'd use at least one can of cr of shrimp soup (got a couple on sale a couple weeks ago).

Speaking of crab, I'm crazy about Long John Silver's Crab Cakes. I love the clams, too, but can't chew them with my bad teeth.

Glad you are back JT. I don't hang around long these days.