In the winter, Maria asked me if I liked Beet Soup, known in my childhood as Borscht.

My grandmother often made wonderful Borscht, a popular soup in the old country, cheap and easy to make,  complete with drops of sour cream. I made the mistake of going on about how much I loved it.

I think Maria felt I wasn’t as happy with her soup as my grandmother’s. I should have known better.

Given any challenge, intentional or not, Maria turns fierce and obsessive. People don’t know this about her; she is fearsome when provoked.

She will never quit until she figures it out.

All this time, she’s been thinking about how to make this soup as good or better than my grandmother’s. I know how her mind works. It was a challenge.

I didn’t know this until she asked me to come into the kitchen this afternoon and put the beet soup she had been plotting through the blender.

I heard her rattling in the kitchen as I came and went; I wasn’t paying attention until I started to recognize the smell of beets, which brought back some memories, even in my post-Covid state.

I was surprised to see the soup so rich in color and smell. My grandmother had never heard of a blender; her soup was full of beet chunks she sliced into small pieces.

I don’t know if Maria did this through research or experimentation. I didn’t ask.

I tasted Maria’s Beet Soup, and there it was; Maria called it “Beet Soup,” but it was Borscht, every bit as good as my grandmother’s. I admit it; it was different in some ways – thicker but even more flavorful.

All she would tell me was that she made it with onions, beets, sweet potato, dill, salt, and pepper.

She said she wasn’t trying to compete with my grandmother; she just wanted to make good beet soup and the beautiful other soups – lentil and pea – that she has been making in recent months. She’s taken on soups as a culinary project.

We will have this soup for dinner and some wood-fried veggie pizza at the Farmer’s Market today, which is thin, healthy, and delicious. I can’t wait for dinner. She made a big pot; we’ll be eating it all week.

I did suggest some small scoops of yoghurt. She’s mulling it.

I miss my grandmother, who gave me the love I very desperately needed when I was young.

This doesn’t take away from her, and I would love to tell her about Maria. She would never believe that a Christian woman could make good Borscht or, for that matter, cook anything or keep a clean house.

She often warned me against marrying outside of the faith.

She wasn’t entirely off.

Maria doesn’t like to shop or cook; I usually do both. But she can make me look silly when she sets her mind to it. Creativity always finds a way to show itself. And her soup is pretty enough to paint and hang on a wall.

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My “Talk To Me” interactive Zoom Project kicks off Wednesday, September 14th, at 10 am. Some people have signed up already, but the official admission time is 9:30–9:45 am. My tech support Andrew will be on most of the meeting to help with any technical issues, but it seems simple, and he and I have rehearsed several times.

The idea is to meet face-to-face or as close as we can get to it and have lively and thoughtful discussions about whatever is on your mind. I’ll have something to say about my Covid experience and my thoughts about the recent changes in the blog and me.

All you need to get on is the link below; I’ve added the ID and passcode for the meeting, should you need it. I will admit 15 people this time and see how it goes. I want to keep it small so we can all talk to each other; digital communication is cold often and prone to misinterpretation and confusion. I don’t anticipate any hostility and won’t permit any should it pop up.

I hope this works as I hope, and if so, I’ll keep it up every Wednesday on Zoom at 10 am. The meeting is, of course, free. I assume everybody knows that, but I just thought I should mention it.

Below is the link:

(Jon Katz is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71331834095?pwd=wlcUjiyOaNLSSqW7XhBPa7kkZnsuZg.1

Meeting ID: 713 3183 4095
Passcode: c2dUP3)

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