Why So Serious?

We have a trip planned. To Europe. And although this trip is still weeks away, we're growing excited and excitedter about it. There's a certain vibration in the air.

I must say (now for something completely different):
The ingredients make the difference. Today: Broth.
I have a made a lot of grean bean soups in my life. Back then a year ago or so my ignorant self decided that pulverized instant broth would do just fine. So I used it, and the soup was good. Later I found they sell broth in cans, so I tried that, but it didn't make much difference. The soup still turned out good. I've used chicken broth, beef broth, vegetable broth, whatever was available and/or handy.
Then there came a time when I totally forgot to put any kind of broth in. Well, that soup was... different.
But the last grean bean soup I cooked brought me a revelation, an epiphany almost. To explain why, we have to travel back in time a bit, back to days after last Christmas, and doing that we can't but remember: The turkey.
How I boiled the crap out of its remains! All the bones and fat and gristle bubbling in the hot concoction! How I poured that hot liquid through a sieve, filtering it, and how I ended up with the finest and purest turkey stock one can imagine. And, last but not least, as the observant reader of these pages will remember, how I froze it into broth-cubes.
Long story short: This time, instead of instant or canned broth (which both constist of mainly salt anyway) I used no less than 12 (twelve) standard ice-cube-size homemade turkey-broth-cubes.
The resulting soup was, as formerly mentioned, a revelation. The best grean bean soup ever. Perhaps a millimeter short of Ambrosia (and we can't get higher than that).
I conclude: It's the broth that makes the soup, or, to put more general: It's the ingredients that make the meal. I know this now.
Yes, I know, you wanna say we've known this before, but believe me: You think you know. You're not a believer. You will never really know, unless you've experienced it yourself.
So go ahead: Cook your favourite meal and enjoy it, but next week, next week cook it again, but this time, this time choose only the best and highest quality ingredients.
And then: Try to enjoy it.
But the first bite will instantly take you a place where your favourite angels sing peace into your heart. You won't just enjoy, instead you will feast with relish! Indulge and wallow! Savor a meal that satisfies on every level imaginable. That makes your soul... smile.
Only fools aim for mere taste bud satisfaction.