Food Faux Pas: Our Disastrous Dinner

One of our first nights here Paul and I were craving a late night snack. With only a few groceries in our fridge I knew I was going to have to make something from scratch. Paul requested grilled cheese and tomato soup. We had a big jar of tomato sauce in the fridge and I thought how hard could it be to make some homemade tomato soup? Hard….the answer is hard. Unlike tomato sauce in the US, this sauce had no sugar. It was the most bitter tomato sauce I had ever had in my life. I knew food standards were different when it came to artificial food dyes and coloring and European countries have higher standards about chemicals and additives put in food but I never thought about the fact that they would take sugar out of jarred tomato sauce (it was a glass jar too if you’re curious).

After taking a quick taste and almost gagging, I immediately ran into the living room to make Paul taste it. At this point my faith in myself to be able to make a tasty soup out of this was very low and I needed Paul to know what I had to work with before certain catastrophe ensued. He was also surprised by the unique taste but left me to my own devices. Having a few staples in the house, I rolled my sleeves and set to work.

Add a little sugar…nope not enough add a little more…maybe a little salt to…tomato sauce normally has a little salt right? Okay, time to add some creaminess. The only thing I had in the fridge was milk, it would have to do. Alright, now just let it simmer for a little while and Ta da! It’s done.

I was the poor soul that had to be the first to taste it…I was the cook after all. It’s only fair. Let me tell you this soup was so bad. As low as my natural cooking abilities are, I’m still not sure much could have redeemed this sauce enough to make it into an edible soup.

Well that was an epic fail. No soup for us tonight. You know what never fails? Butter, bread, and cheese. With the looming disappointment of no hot soup to dip our sandwiches in, Paul and I sat in silence in the dim living room eating our grilled cheeses.

We do have some “American peanut butter ” in the cabinet to try, but I might give it a little time for the soup debacle to blow over first.