soup and salad, virginian tavern style

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child? - Lin Yutang

please focus on beautiful Mount Vernon, and not my hideous coat...

After writing yesterday about peanut butter and Christmas and childhood, I started thinking about peanut soup.  I can remember very distinctly one lovely December day 15 years ago (almost exactly to the day) spent at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, concluding with a candlelit dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant. On the menu was Virginia peanut & chestnut soup. We ordered some at the recommendation of the waiter (and out of our curiosity - it runs in the family) and instantly fell in love.