TWELVE MONTHS OF MONASTERY SOUPS by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette

The Book: Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette, TWELVE MONTHS OF MONASTERY SOUPS: International Favorites by the Best-Selling Author of From a Monastery Kitchen. Triumph Books, 1996 (first edition). Good condition, some food stains and water damage.
First read: 1996
Owned since: 1996

I believe I've said it here before: I like soups. For a year or two, this was my most heavily-used cookbook. If you have freezer space, soups are great for single people: make a pot, freeze separate servings, thaw as needed.

Not all of the soups here lend themselves to that approach, as the emphasis is on seasonal food served (mostly) hot and promptly. Soups that call for a beaten egg just before serving, or need to be heated without coming to a boil, are not good candidates for freezing and reheating. (This might seem obvious to you, but I speak from experience.)

Favorites here are the cream of asparagus soup, which uses real cream; spicy orange and carrot (I like orange foods, too); and beet soup, which is both a lot of work and very messy. If you make it, wear something beet-colored. The acorn squash soup recipe is easy and seasonal, and I might make it this weekend.

It's a weird, distracted time of year, and it's much too cold again today -- and we're supposed to be getting more snow. The rest of the planet may be suffering from global warming, but here in Maine we're having a hard, early winter, and the sooner I head south for the holidays, the happier I will be.