Mondays are usually just another day. However a couple of weeks ago I stopped into JoJo’s Eatery, located at 214 West Texas Avenue, in the old Petroleum building.  To grab a quick bite to go, and I walked away with some homemade Vegetable Chicken Soup, and a very generous portion of cornbread. It was the prefect remedy for my Monday blues.  There is just something about cornbread and soup on a cold day.

It reminded me of a story I once heard about the great chef, Emeril Lagasse learning to cook, he watched his mother cook vegetable soup all his childhood years. One day he told her that he wanted to try and cook it. He followed the recipe directions word for word, and when he was finished, Emeril and his mother tasted it. He wasn’t impressed at all; it didn’t taste like his moms. He couldn’t understand it, he followed the directions he did everything she did, but it just didn’t taste right. She told him that he must have the love for it, and to try cooking it again in a few days. He cooked the vegetable soup again and again, and each time he took a little extra care, and added a little more love to each batch, every pot he cooked turned out a little better, until one day he was satisfied. At the end of the process he concluded that the difference between his first batch of soup and his mom’s was just pure and simple love.