Free Republic

I’m posting this Tomato Soup recipe from last year again, because even though it’s a hot soup, which we may not want in Summer, and the recipe uses canned tomatoes, it’s a great use for fresh tomatoes if you have a ‘bumper crop’. It’s also a wonderful starter for any season: light and bright – not a heavy creamy soup; and you might like it as a lighter change for the soup course even at Thanksgiving or Christmas. The original recipe comes from 'The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook', by John Shields (highly recommended!) but I've goofed-around with it a bit. I...

When I was attending public school in the late-1950s and 1960s, one of our favorites of the rotating school lunches was Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled-Cheese Sandwiches. But as I grew older, I lost my taste for the sweetness of most tomato soups offered in cans at the grocery, or in restaurants. I began to realize that what I was wanting in Tomato Soup was something very tart, clear, and herb-y. About 10 years ago, while lunching in a small local restaurant, I enjoyed a Tomato-Basil soup in a bread bowl which seemed to me to be the *Perfect...

American society has often been described as a melting pot but in recent years, it has also attracted other definitions such as "tomato soup" and "tossed salad". For centuries, the US has attracted people in search of a share of "the American dream" from all corners of the world. In fact, US history is one of immigration. In 1620, about 100 English colonists, so-called "Mayflower Pilgrims" left for America seeking religious freedom. They landed near Plymouth, Massachusetts, marking the start of the first successful European migration to North America, which had been inhabited by Amerindian people for more than 16,000...