A Tad Past the Ides of September

If this summer is remembered for anything, it won't be for my having another birthday, although that happened. The trillion dollars or so that has been lost on the world's markets will soon be regained by those more capable than I, so that won't be an issue for me, either. No, with any luck, I'll remember this summer as one dedicated to French Onion Soup, which has become something of an obsession with me.

Like most things, it all started many years ago when I had it for the first time. My wife at the time and I went out to some nice French restaurant, just the two of us, and I think that was the first time I ever had it. That was the most memorable part of the meal for me, even though it was also my introduction to escargot.

Anyway, all though I've had it off and on in the intervening years, it's only been the past couple of months that I've craved French onion soup. I can't get enough of it, and that's the problem.

It used to be that I could find Progresso French Onion soup even when I wasn't looking for it. It was everywhere. Now, the markets I frequent don't carry that variety, and I've had to try some others. Campbells has one, but it tastes funny to me, metallic, and only works in a pinch. I tried looking up recipes to make my own, but Alton Brown's first step required purchasing a fifty dollar electric skillet, so that put me in a deep funk from which I've barely recovered.

If I had the money for fifty dollar electric skillets, I'd go out to eat.

This past weekend, on a whim, I thought I'd check out this Bristol Farms market, which I'd seen a few of around town. It's like a Gelson's, only, if this is possible, only more expensive. They carry a good selection of all many of the regular favorites, all at a hefty markup, and many other frightfully expensive goods as well. This Bristol Farms, I quickly concluded, is where rich folk go to get the good food that us masses can only ever hope to taste.

Still, I thought it might be worth it to check out their soup selection, if only to see if they had some of that soup I craved. They carry the Progressive brand, but not French Onion. They did, however, have some jar of French Onion soup with a cute calico cover and a health-inspiring name, but it looked to me more like gravy than soup. Not that there's anything wrong with gravy, not if you have a biscuit laying around, but if there's one thing I demand of French Onion soup it's that it contains, you know, onions.

Pieces of onion. Fibrousy pieces of onion. Pieces you can chew. Chew, taste, and swallow.

They had another store name variety, for about six bucks I might add, that also lacked any particulate onion, and I passed on both of them. Is it too much to ask for onions in my onion soup? I did get some dried package, I think (I'll have to check the cupboard, later), which I hope contains more than dried powdered onion dust.

The rich may very well eat better than you and I, but when it comes to French Onion Soup, it looks as if they may as well sip it through a straw.