Borscht

I finally finished the last of the borscht that I made almost a year ago today. I hope. I'll have to check the freezer again when I get home.

I think that I would have been justified in dumping the whole batch and making a fresh one, but I have a frustrating streak of conscientiousness when it comes to wasting food. I did several things wrong with this borscht, and to be honest it was a chore getting to the end of it. On the one hand there is a part of me that does not care if I ever have another bowl of borscht in this lifetime, but another part of me wants to do a "make up" batch of soup. I love borscht, and it saddens me to think that if I died tomorrow, this swill would be my final impression of it.

Here is a short list of warnings to myself for the next batch:

• No, you shouldn't "may as well just use all the parsnips."


• Yes, even though it's "only charred on the bottom" it will affect the flavour.


• Adding more vinegar is not a good remedy for adding too many parsnips.


• If you find yourself thinking, "I don't want to add too much salt" don't think; add the salt. If it tastes like it needs more, it does.


• Before you decide to quadruple the recipe, ask yourself if you will still be enjoying this same soup in 6 months, 8 months or even 12 months.