Don’t Be Alarmed, It’s Tam’s Redemption Leek

Alright soup people…this one had some drama baked in before we even plugged in the crockpot. Let’s be honest, every Soup Club meeting feels important. But this week? This was a big one. For our loyal follower aRob, who was mentally prepared for a Kevin masterpiece, plot twist: Kevin and Tam swapped weeks. Audible gasp across the breakroom.

I’m pretty sure Tam had a master plan to redeem herself after the infamous Cheese Soup Chapter and just couldn’t sit on it any longer. She emailed me the recipe Sunday. I got the preview. On paper? Souper promising. Leading into Tuesday, there was an actual buzz in the office. Not like a fluorescent light buzz. Like an anticipation buzz.

There’re two major storylines heading into the meeting:

• Is this Tam’s redemption arc?

• Has young Hunter listened to enough Mel Robbins on time management to finally commit to Soup Club? (Hunter…buddy…that sentence shouldn’t even exist.)

Then there was a last minute email from Ed demanding the blog be titled “Don’t be alarmed, but there’s a leek in your Soup’r Bowl.” Cute. Strong energy. But unless you’re writing the blog, sir!... Plus, it doesn’t make sense! (We did flip the picture around though - ok idea.)

Now to the action…Soup Club Scores:

• Adam came in late because he was doing actual productive work. Bossman should be proud. The grin on his face all meeting basically said, “Joining Soup Club was a top five life decision.” Then he happily dropped a 9.0. Veteran move for Adam.

• Conlan followed with a 9.0 and the room literally went “Whoa!” in unison. Always love a dramatic reveal.

• Kevin was oddly quiet this week. Suspiciously content. He opened with a 6.8 without hot sauce, then bumped it to a 7.3 with hot sauce. Classic Kevin. We need a separate scoring column for condiment influence.

• Andy went two bowls again. And when I say two bowls, I mean two 1/3 bowls poured separately. I don’t know what math that equals, but we’ll call it two. He landed at a 9.1 and looked very pleased with life.

• Now me. This one was tricky. I respect the WFPB effort and the complexity of the build. That’s 10.0 territory. Pine nuts? Green onions? Love it. But then the table filled up with boxed bacon, mysterious rolls, and fried onion thingies. That pulls the needle back a bit. Vegan cheese over regular cheese? I’ll take it. I’m sensing Tam may lean cheese-forward in all future soup offerings, so we need to monitor that trend. I came in at a 7.4. A few tweaks and I’d have climbed. It was a good soup…for a cheese soup.

• Marketing Mike? No show. I got an email about cancelling a marketing meeting. But Soup Club? Priorities, man.

Official Soup Club average: 8.36. Respectable...Redemption partially achieved.

Now the Campbell’s Crew:

• Hunter. Off the recruiting list. He has officially relapsed to Jimmy John’s. Thankfully I’ve read Mel Robbins’ Let Them. Let him.

• Aubreigh: Not too hot, not too cold, just right! 10.0!

• Felton was a journey. We built him a custom bowl with boxed bacon as a bottomer and ghost pepper sauce on top. He started at a 9.0. Hit the bacon. Jumped to a 9.5. Three minutes later he stood up and proudly declared, “Ten! This is perfect!” That’s the kind of emotional growth we love to see.

Next week? Another big one. Kevin is up and rumor has it he’s been practicing lentil meatballs to sit alongside the regular meatballs for his Italian Wedding Soup. That’s range, people. As for me, I’ll be quietly sipping on split pea that was whipped up over the weekend. I could eat split pea every day and never complain…Soup Club rolls on…