Monday, November 20, 2006

New Babies and Pumpkin Soup

So, in my other life, I'm a doula. A doula is a woman who offers physical, emotional, and informational support to couples during birth. On Saturday, my best friend, Sarah (watch my cooking show in January - she's my guest) had a baby and I was there as her doula. She didn't end up needing me much because she's the most amazing woman in the world. When she was seven months pregnant she was rock climbing these rock faces that hard core grown men I know couldn't climb and the day before she had her baby, she went kayaking down a river until she got to the lake it ended in. Needless to say, she pretty much got that baby out with a smile on her face.

Sarah and I have seriously bonded through food. Everytime we get together, there's food
involved. For her birth, she made and froze pumpkin soup. Yeah, I know, not a big deal, lots of moms make stuff to freeze for eating after the baby's born. The thing is, she made the soup to feed to everyone present at her birth. You could say it was the celebration meal we sometimes hear about in other cultures. After the baby was born, I got it out of the freezer and heated it up and at 6:20 am, we all had a hot bowl of homemade pumpkin soup. Before I ate it, I wasn't too excited about pumpkin soup. I'd had versions before and I wasn't expecting much, but it was absolutely delightful. I know it sounds strange, but we were all starving (maybe from being up half the night) and it just tasted so good. I ate mine in a ceramic bowl that Sarah made herself (I told you she is amazing). It had a couple chips on the edges, but I think it made the soup taste better because I knew the bowl was well loved. After we ate our soup, I was laying next to Sarah on her bed, admiring her gorgeous baby and she turned to me and said, "Labor wasn't that bad." I wonder if the soup had anything to do with it.

Sarah said I could post the recipe but I'm giving her a bit of a break so as soon as I talk to her next, I'll post it. Trust me - this is one pumpkin soup that will change your view of pumpkins forever.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Melissa! I'm Sarah's friend Camille (from high school). I have just very much enjoyed every part of your website! Nicely done.

(Although I think it's quite cruel to make me watch you eat that pineapple salsa and then the recipe wasn't actually on your site anywhere that I could find. I'm going to watch it again and write down what you are saying... ;) lol)

Anonymous said...

PS I too think Sarah is one of the most amazing women walking the planet!

Unknown said...

I too think that Sarah is one of the most amazing women on the planet. Right next to you, Melissa. I miss you guys!