Onions in the Soup

Last week I bought a crock pot. It’s funny how little purchases like that can be a giant step of independence at this stage in my life when we are living without a kitchen. I was VERY excited about my crock pot and the freedom of cooking Fall/Winter type meals in our sweet little house. Plus I was making my most favourite Mexican enchiladas which always makes me SMILE! Later in the week I had decided to make a soup that I had found on line that had tons of black beans (and NZ finally has black beans!!! They had NONE when I lived here before, so anything I can find to make with black beans I get very excited about)

The recipe called for onions. I know that Sam doesn’t really like soup in general, and really doesn’t like onions, but in my optimistic head I thought, “Just maybe he will like this soup because it is more like a chilli.” The night before I got everything ready I could: putting out all the cans that were to go in the crock pot, the chicken defrosting in the fridge, and a cut up onion--in order to be all ready for the morning. Thinking that I was doing such a noble act, cutting the onions up the night before as not to overpower Sam with onion smell first thing in the morning before I went to work…yet instead I ended up with a very smell conscience husband not happy with the over powering scent of onions. Our little studio apartment keeps smells at quite a close distance.

As I sleepily found my way to bed, Sam began to comment about the smell. I was sure that it would go away and be fine, since the cut onions were covered. The hours went on and Sam still couldn’t get to sleep because the smell was so overpowering. I do have to admit it was quite STRONG. I was so tired I just didn’t care. Finally at some point well into the night, Sam was placing the cut onions in the bathroom that is not in our little house and I then realized that I still had some onion uncut that I had not placed in sealed bag. OOPS. Sam was not a happy camper and while I knew it was bad I still did want to chuckle to myself at how a little onion smell could disrupt the night and sleep for him. I didn’t chuckle out loud only to myself you will be glad to know.

I did however, think about that experience for the next day or so. It was just one of those moments I couldn’t get out of my heat. I realized how much my life paralleled “onions in the soup.” I LOVED the soup. It was absolutely yummy and filled with good things for the baby and me. I did not love the smell of onions that permeated our house, even though I told Sam it wasn’t that bad. Hehehehe.

The next night I realized that part of what made that soup so good was the onions that added to the flavor, but wasn’t actually tasted in the final product. So much of life this last year has had many “onion” moments. Moments where tears flowed without preparation and with no sight in end, where the smell was so strong we wanted to run away, where the overpowering took us out for weeks at a time. Yet, same as the soup, our life is being created and even the moments that might “smell” or make me cry it doesn’t mean the “soup” is going to be bad.

I just ate some left our soup for lunch and savored each bite and was thankful that even onions can teach you something if you are listening.