While it seems that life is always pretty good here at the Roediger House, there's no escaping how special it is when the super superintendents from the Shenandoah Valley come down for a visit. Longtime friends and colleagues Donna and Ebbie braved the truck-saturated madness of Interstate 81 and the traffic wreck back-up of US 220 around Martinsville to journey to Winston-Salem last Thursday for their latest, and still too short, visit. We are talkers, fully wound-up to catch up, well-tuned to vent and process the miserable morass of these present days, and at suppertime we are also hungry. Under their watchful eyes and helped along with the excellent wine they brought, I put together a pot of cheddar potato soup that turned out pretty hearty and delicious.
Our unfortunate string of uncooperative weather for their visits these last few years persisted, and we listened to the rain outside the south parlour while we began our time together, and then in the kitchen while the soup seemed right for that grey evening...but warm and delighted were we in the comforts of this old home. The dinner concluded with samplings of three variations of shortbread Ebbie had made, recognizing that multiple bites of multiple pieces might be required to render our fair pleased verdicts. And then there was pool up on the third floor, and lots of laughs and hearty chuckles and reminiscences...before we entered the evening's final chapter mulling over all the problems of the world while remaining ever grateful that we have this time together.
"Cheddar Potato Soup," from the Roediger House. Adapted from "Potato and Cheese Soup," from KitchenArt: The Store for Cooks [now closed] in West Lafayette, Indiana.
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