Memories of French Onion Soup

Tonight was date night-we went to Mimi's Cafe in Arlington at the Highlands.  I ordered my food, and then the waiter asked if I would like a soup or salad to go with my meal.  My hubby ordered some French Onion Soup, and I thought it sounded good, so I ordered some as well.  While I was waiting for it to arrive, I asked my husband if he remembered when I had my first French Onion Soup (today would be my second time).


Back when we were dating, my husband rented a room from a recently married couple-he was Canadian and she was Hungarian.  Eager to impress, the bride was always trying new recipes, and trying to Americanize her food repertoire.  One time she made a meatloaf, which called for a whole egg, so she molded the meat around a whole egg, and baked it.  Inside of the meatloaf was a fully cooked egg.  On another occasion she made kool-aid with no sugar.  And when my hubby cooked bacon, she called it "stinky food".


Anyhow, she had several people over for New Year's Eve (myself included), and she prepared an elegant meal that she probably found in a magazine.  I can only remember the first course, though.  It was French Onion Soup.  I was expecting the worst.  For one thing, after some of her other disasters, I didn't have much faith in her cooking skills.  But also, as a 17 year old who had never eaten French Onion Soup, it just sounded awful.  I mean-onion-really??  Who puts an onion in a soup and makes it the main ingredient?  But I was raised to be polite-I kept my mouth shut about what I thought I was about to eat, and was going to tolerate it.


But then I tasted it...yum!  It was so good!  I was pleasantly surprised by just how tasty it was.  I don't know why I haven't eaten French Onion Soup since that day.  Maybe it hasn't been on the menu at restaurants when I order soup (since I don't order soup that often), or maybe I just got in the habit of ordering what I always do.  Either way, I was glad to have some again today.