I guess that is a lie, since there is no fog in sight. The Google definition of soupy indicates a heavy/misty layer of fog and I actually want to talk about cooking a soup
Heavy foggy weather is not something we get a lot of in central Mississippi, and I don't get to use that as a weather reference very often. I guess soupy weather is a better term for England and old B&W horror movies.
My use of “soupy” was intended to refer to soup for dinner weather and not horror movies.
When I was kid (back in 1961), the horror movie, “Mr. Sardonicus” was released and right away came to Clinton's local movie house.
In those days, if it wasn't CHS football season. Friday night was movie night, and we always walked from our house on the west side of town to the Hilltop Theater which was maybe 3/4rs of a mile from our house (uphill, both ways in the snow). Mrs. Ashford owned the Hilltop, and our job was to make her life miserable. A good movie night always included her stopping the movie at least once to storm down the center aisle to the stage in front of the screen, where she would walk back and forth like General Patton in the movie, shaking her fist at us, as she shouted, “If you kids don't quieten down I won't start this movie back up and you can just go home!!!!!!!” That comment usually incited Harry B. (never me – honestly – never me) to shout back. “Shut up, you old bag of dirt!” which guaranteed at least an additional five-minute break before the kids would quieten enough so that she would calm down enough to lower the lights, allow the projection guy to restart the projector, and resume the movie.
IMO, the Hilltop Theater had the very best Bally Baseball Arcade (Pinball) Machine in central Mississippi.
It was on the wall of the tiny grill and concession stand attached to the north side of the theater, accessed through a side door off the small lobby. I understand the grill made really good hamburgers for the Mississippi College Students who also attended the Friday night horror movie showings at the Hilltop. In all of my youth, I never had a Hilltop Burger, but I never went to a movie there without buying a ten-cent bag of popcorn and a ten-cent coke. I wonder how many MC Co-eds back then selected their future husband because he bought them a good burger at the Hilltop Theater.
Back then, there was no chauffeur named Charles working for the family and uber had not been invented, so walking was our way of getting around. We had bikes, but no way to chain them up, and leaving a bicycle outside the Hilltop on a Friday night would assure one of the other 100 (+-) town kids who also observed Friday night as “movie at the Hilltop night” would surely see an unchained bike as a wonderful opportunity to borrow some wheels for a joy ride. Anyhow, we were in our preferred seats at the Hilltop the Friday night Mrs. Ashford brought the recently released black and white horror movie to town. If you never saw this movie, you need to know it was a perfect 1960s horror film, with a spooky old house, a good-looking girl and her guy and a guy named “Baron Sardonicus”. I can't remember why they were at his house (actually I can, but it ruins the plot to say why they were there). Anyhow, the scenes were dark, with thumps and creaks in the night. The house also had locked doors and characters who wondered what was on the other side of them.
If I say more, I will ruin the plot, so I will just say, the walk home – believe it or not – it was both dark and soupy foggy the night when “Mr. Sardonicus” hit the screen, was interesting. It was dark and foggy at 10:00 pm down the bat infested Madison Street in Clinton that night - not the preferred conditions for a group of 10-12 year old boys to walk home after a horror movie, but I am happy to say Mr. Sardonicus was somewhere else (probably England) that night and I survived the walk home. Back in those days, Mom and Dad left the door unlocked for us on walk to the movie night, and I am certain we made certain it was locked when we got home that night.
Hurray! I checked, and you can watch “Mr. Sardonicus” if you have “Tubi” on your Smart TV, or maybe on your internet connection (free with commercials). I would recommend popping some Pillsbury Dough Boy Movie Time extra butter microwave popcorn and opening a chilled Diet Dr. Pepper to enhance the experience. If you are a big time, no expenses spared spender, you might want to go by Wally World and buy a box of Jr Mints for your sweetie and call it a date night.
Jeepers. How did I get off onto old B&W horror movies? Oh yes, I was talking about soupy weather! You do know the best horror movies were always in B&W. I miss the days when late night TV featured old B&W horror movies (Spooky TV, Shock Theater, and Elvira. Mistress of the Dark), just before playing the National Anthem and signing off for the night. There was another horror movie on Channel 12's Shock Theater that had an old geezer in a wheelchair in his creepy house, down a dark swamp road where you were in big trouble when the crickets and frogs suddenly went silent. I can't remember the name of that one, but it had a secret passage down a tunnel and an ancient Egyptian pyramid mummy king. They don't make horror movies like they used to....
Anyway. Here is a nice soup for soupy weather:
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup:
Ingredients (for two servings):
Half of a large Butternut
squash, peeled and cubed
1 small onion
2 cloves Garlic
1
Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup Vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2
Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 Tablespoons
Maple syrup
For serving
2 slices Bacon
Half of an
apple (I used a cosmic crisp. Use whatever variety you like)
Since this is a “Cream Soup”, you will need a blender
Directions:
Oil a sheet pan with a bit of olive oil
Peel and cube the butternut
squash. Peel and quarter a small onion
Peel 2 cloves of
garlic. Toss these vegetables in a Tablespoon of olive oil, place
on sheet pan, season with half a teaspoon of salt and half a
teaspoon of black pepper.
Cook bacon until crisp and set aside
Place roasted vegetables into blender. Add vegetable broth and heavy cream. Pulse blender until smooth. Adjust amount of vegetable broth and heavy cream added to get the thickness you like. Add 2 Tablespoons of soft butter to blender. Blend and taste for seasoning. Add salt and black pepper as desired to season the soup.
Portion the creamed soup into microwave proof bowls and nuke until hot. Everything was cooked/roasted before placing into the blender, so the intent here is to just get the soup hot.
Cut the half apple into 1/4 inch bits. Break the bacon into bits.
Portion apple and bacon bits over soup and a sprinkle of maple syrup. Grate a light dusting of nutmeg over apple and bacon bits.
Serve hot.
Thanks for looking at my post.
God Bless you.
2 comments:
I found myself wondering where the Hilltop had been, and did some nosing around on Google maps. Was this where the current MC Phillips House is? There is a 16 year old picture on Google street view that looks like it might have been a theater.
I bet this soup would also work with a good pumpkin. I look forward to your recipes every week.
Back in the 1960s, it was the hilltop theater. Then it became the band hall for MC. Then they knocked down the hill and it became the president's house for MC. On the corner of Madison and Capitol. Old trivia. Clinton lost the vote to be the Capitol of Mississippi by something like one vote. Jackson won because it had a navigable river (the Pearl).
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