Don’t Put Milk in Octopus Soup: Three-Things Challenge

Carolyn would be the first to admit that she is not a good cook, but sometimes she attempts some rather adventuresome when she invites company to her beach house. She walked on the beach trying to think of something she could cook that would impress her friends and wasn’t too hard to prepare. As she was walking near the water’s edge, she spotted something lying in the sand.

As she approached, she noticed that whatever it was had stopped moving. Looking down, she saw an octopus that had somehow got lost and ended up out of the ocean. “What if I made octopus soup for my friends,” she thought. “I bet they would be impressed!” Using the tote bag she had with her for collecting oyster shells, she carried the octopus home.

Carolyn looked up recipes on the Internet, and she was surprised that none of them called for milk, for she assumed that just like oyster stew, octopus soup would surely include milk.  Hurrying to the grocery store, she bought some jumbo shrimp , deciding to prepare shrimp and octopus soup. She bought all of the ingredients needed, including milk, for she was sure the recipes were wrong!

Carolyn chopped, diced, and cubed the carrots, potatoes, celery, onions, red chili peppers, tomatoes, and the octopus, singing merrily as she went along.  She fried everything but the octopus in vegetable oil, and set them aside. After the octopus had boiled for 20 minutes, she added the shrimp, the vegetables, and just a cup of milk to enhance the flavors. Everything seemed to mix well, and Carolyn was proud of herself.

With great apprehension, her guests, who knew that Carolyn was cuisine-challenged, sat down at the table, admiring the beauty of the table. Then, Carolyn walked in with the pot of soup, never noticing that the milk had curdled and was sitting on the top of the soup. No amount of skimming could remove the milk from the soup, and not one guest could actually eat it.

As she called for pizza to be delivered for herself and her guests, Carolyn thought,”Maybe they were right and milk does not go in octopus soup!”

Written for the Three Things Challenge by The Haunted Wordsmith: tote, milk, octopus.