It's been a few years since I saw my youngest sister.

I have to be careful about the use of adjectives like "little" and replace them with "younger". You see my little sister is really my youngest sister. We grew up in London. She is the last - one of a series of six (four girls and 2 boys). So everyone from 1 thru 5 refers to her as our little sister. Except now that she is married and living in Europe with her own teen boys she dislikes the use of the term "little".

Anyway after a hiatus of about 4 years she decides to come hang out with me in Miami. It's freezing where she lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands and its cool here in Miami, Florida. She gives up her family's annual ski trip to the Swiss slopes to spend some bonding time with me. Every year she tries to get me on the slopes but I am like "too old to break any bones". Insurance in the USA is very expensive.

As soon as she arrives, she is excited about this new recipe for a fabulous new soup. Its called the 'surprise soup' and given that she has only a week to be with me (I had so many things planned for her as a surprise) she sets about trying to locate the ingredients. This is hilarious.

Day 1 - We head out to the great Walmart, she is looking for amongst other things, pine nuts only to find that they are hugely overpriced. We leave the store and decide to find another store more reasonably priced. In my mind - where is more reasonable than Walmart?.

Day 2 - We attended a special opening of an art event my husband was having in downtown Miami - debuting the spectacular work of a rising artist, Everton Wright from the UK -"Walking Drawings". It was a great event so again there was no time for her to shop for her soup ingredients.

Day 3 - She was determined to get the rest of her ingredients to make her soup. Despite an early start, we were once again delayed as a film maker was visiting our home and wanted to show us a documentary he was working on called - unbelievable coincidence - Soup. We reserved our soup bonding time to review his wonderful unfinished material. We enjoyed his documentary on the symbolism of soup and Haiti's independence. I can't say anything else about it here because he is hoping to enter it at Cannes on completion.

Day 4 - We were out again looking for the special ingredients and ended up segueing to a museum and doing some art walk in the wonderful Windwards area of Miami. As an artist and a designer the chance to visit museums are on the top of her list. After much socializing and schmoozing thru the art district, it was time for home and of course bed. No time for Soup.

Day 5 - Once again we headed out to gather in the remainder of her ingredients. She wondered out aloud whether this soup would ever be made. By now, I am curious as to what is so special about soup? This time it was the saga of the fresh French baguette and Crème Fraiche. Store# 1, baguettes were not right. She needed to find the right ones. Of course, I am no expert in French baguettes - clearly there is a difference. Store #1 did not have Crème Fraiche either. Store #2 had no idea what Crème Fraiche was and the floor assistant told us that we could use Sour Cream as a substitute. You should have seen her face….Are Americans crazy? Who would substitute Crème Fraiche with sour cream? Store #3, the assistant went above and beyond (even though he initially had no idea where he had seen Crème Fraiche in the store, so he went on a mission to find it). He returned victorious Crème Fraiche in hand. Of course, this was #Wholefoods. Their mission is "never to disappoint". Sure enough, they did not. Baguettes too were perfect at Whole Foods. Armed with all the ingredients, we set out to make this soup. I was commissioned sous chef. Not one to disappoint, I was an excellent student.

On this day, I gave witness to a work of art. One by one, I chopped and prepared garlic, potatoes, leeks, mushrooms and parsley. I watched her add butter, bouillon cubes and mustard. She added salmon. Finally she placed the baguettes into an already warmed oven to sensually permeate our home with the wonderful fragrance of fresh French bread. We talked and laughed as we prepared this wonderful looking soup. Still as I chopped and prepped I wondered silently how this would taste. It seemed wonderful and eclectic but with myriad fragrances. I could smell the intoxicating smell of the baguette and rationalized that even if the soup didn't come out all that well, I would take pleasure in devouring the warm bread.

Finally after all that prepping, we set the table and she then began to add all the ingredients to the soup bowls. At that point she asked me not to look because it was all part of the surprise. I obliged.

The result...

When we finally sat down to eat. Verdict. Out of this world. This was the soup version of the layered cake. Every morsel, every mouthful was a surprise. It was full of flavor, warm, inviting and luxurious. The salmon at the bottom of the plate was oozing with flavor. I could now taste and appreciate why she wanted to make us this wonderful leek soup with salmon. It truly was a moment to bond with my "little sister". Our mother would have been proud. She has added so much value to the skills (or maybe lack thereof) that she possessed when she left home.

If you want the recipe, please leave me a comment and I will send you the link.

What we did on Day 6

Sister bonding time at spa after soup day