The best soup ever

The food on this trip has been outstanding, from the buffets in the hotels and on the ship to the meals in the cities. Of course, it is for a price. The other evening my mom and I ate out at what is a normal pub/restraunt in Bergen, maybe a tad sophisticated, but that's normal for Europe. So a "normal" place. We had a gnochi appetizer which was just scrumptious. My mom had a divine chicken curry soup that was mouthwatering and I had a glazed lamb dish with roasted fennel, garlic and onions. We each had a drink. $175! I try to not think of how many of my friends I could have taken out to my favorite Thai restuarant in Eugene for that amount of money.

But that's not the story of my best soup ever. It's not a long story, though I could drag it out if you want. No? Ok, tonight on board we had a very nice three course dinner, the first course being this amazing soup. It was a cream soup with a touch of bacon on top. The creamy flavor was rich and hard to pin down. Too flavorfull for potato alone no doubt. Asparagus maybe? Or some artichoke? Mmm, but I was uncaringly licking the bowl in the ships dining room. So I asked on the way out. Parsnips and Fennel. I was floored. I was promised the recipe tomorrow. If I get it I'll post it and someone can try it out and give some feedback. It will be a great winter soup and I promise to make it for one of my potlucks. It will have to be a Norwegian theme, but someone else will have to make the fish cakes.