Peas Be With You

I can’t speak for the rest of our members, but for me, there’s always an added level of excitement when it’s officially my week to make soup. The wheels start turning weeks ahead…searching recipes, planning toppers, overthinking every spice. It’s basically a mini version of my UWGB Evidence-Based Research course… only way more important!

This week lined up perfectly with my latest “reset” attempt. Barry (yes, that Barry) and I decided to try a 5-day water fast to flush out the last three months of Wesco donuts and questionable boat food from our systems. My motivation: cleanse the DNA of frosting residue. Barry’s? Still unclear. Anyway, I’ve done a 10-day water fast before, so 5 days should’ve been a piece of (imaginary) cake, right? Wrong. I made it 72 hours before cracking. Barry hung in for another 12. Overachiever as usual.

So now I’m switching gears to a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet for a month. One week in, I feel great…lighter, more energized, and slightly smug about it.

For Soup Club, I decided to lean on a classic: Split Pea Soup. I’ve been making it for years and grew up loving my mom’s version with ham, bacon, all the “good” stuff. And back in the day, whenever Big Boy had split pea soup as the daily special, it was a good day (probably also why my gallbladder checked out early).

This version though: clean, green, and oil-light. No meat. No dairy. No guilt. Okay… there’s a smidge of olive oil in the chickpea topper. I panicked.

Now, about the name: “Split Pea Pea…” Not a typo. I wanted to see how many “peas” I could jam into one recipe: Split peas (duh), Green peas (sorry Andy), Snap peas, Black-eyed peas (yo Kevin!), Chickpeas (topper).

It’s a whole pea party in one pot. My first taste test? 2.5 bowls deep before I even realized it. Note to self: limit Soup Club portions to one bowl (failed)!

There was talk about ditching scores this week. Barry mentioned Andy might still be nursing his wounds from last week’s ratings. Fair…Soup Club is supposed to be fun, not emotionally scarring. I was trying to stay neutral (okay, maybe a little proud), but I thought the soup was souperb. A couple days in the fridge really brought it together! Sunday’s version had nothing on today’s.

Kevin threw out some fancy vocabulary between bites. Andy suggested maybe we switch to letter grades: “A, B, C…”…and before I could finish asking Kevin what he’d give it, he blurts out “9.1!” So much for no scores. Tam followed with a 9.5, Andy gave it a 9.0, and Conlan came in at 8.0, which for him is basically fireworks. That’s an 8.9 average! Didn’t wreck my day at all. (Update, Conlan was a tad under the weather today, so that 8.0 score is probably a bit low - makes sense now! Making my average a 9.0!)

A couple of housekeeping notes:

• No Soup Club next week, Conlan and Andy are both out.

• Kevin’s up October 28th…rumor has it, something special might be brewing.

• Felton was officially dubbed the club’s “Tangential” (one of Kevin’s big words…look it up).

• Chris and Aubreigh got the split hit of split pea and absolutely inhaled it. Word on the street: Aubreigh licked the bowl. Respect.

So ends another glorious Soup Club session…pea’d up, scored high, and ready for whatever Kevin’s got next.