Soup Magic
PDF The Set Up
Question: What’s the difference between a “bowl” of soup and a “cup” of soup? Answer: About two dollars.
Twenty-plus years ago I was joking with a waitress and asked that question. The older woman with dozens of years waiting tables and dealing with table clowns like me left the table and returned with two empty bowls: A typical soup cup, and a standard low profile soup bowl.
The bowl was low and shallow, the cup short and squat. To the untrained eye the bowl easily would hold about twice, if not more the volume of soup than the cup. I said “untrained eye” for a reason.
The Test
Our well-seasoned waitress then poured the water from a glass into the bowl filling it neatly to the rim. Then, she lifted that bowl and poured the contents into the soup cup. It filled the cup perfectly. Lesson learned? The difference between a cup of soup and a bowl of soup is about two dollars.
Sitting at the Red Lobster restaurant in Sherman I stared at my bowl of New England Clam Chowder. I didn’t want to take a single spoonful from it— I was anxious to again test what I had learned from that waitress. I asked our Red Lobster waitress to bring me a empty soup cup.
As diners at neighboring tables looked on and my dinner guest sat watching in humiliation, I poured the liquid from the bowl into the cup. It fit perfectly. The laws of science don’t change.
The Prestige
“Wow, I would have never guessed that.” Our young waitress at the Red Lobster was flustered and embarrassed. I felt like some kind of magician having just made the elephant disappear. “Voila!”
The Explanation
The manager on duty, Saeid Tajik, suggested that the experiment was somehow flawed. “The portion control for soup is approximately six ounces for a cup and double that for a bowl,” he explained. So, what happened to my soup? “On any given day, depending on who is working in the kitchen, there can be a mistake in the serving size.” But that does not really explain how the liquid from the bowl fits so neatly into the cup.
Make your own decision on what to order the next time around. By if you’re looking for more soup I suggest you save your money and just order the cup.
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Featured Archive Story
“Hey, didn’t you used to be Gary DiBello?”
From 1989 to 2003, Gary DiBello was as much a part of the morning routine in Texoma as a cup of coffee. He was a morning fixture as host of “Mornin’ Cup” on KTEN-TV Channel 10. DiBello joined KTEN in 1989 as a weekend anchor. Soon, the station bosses set him to work creating a local morning show. In short order, the station’s viewers were “Waking Up with Gary.”
Texoma Pawn Stars
Before there was a check cashing store on every corner, pawn shops were there to help everyday people make ends meet. If you needed consumer credit in America before the 1960s, odds are you had to head to a pawn shop. And today, most banks aren’t there for that $300 loan to get you through to payday.
Balance Matters
Hillary Clinton is in a serious race for the White House. She feels pressure to appear sophisticated, scrupulous, and sedulous. After all, the world has serious problems! Now just hold on. Who says you can’t be serious minded, savvy and lighthearted at the same time? In fact, the press and political consultants gave Hillary feedback that she needed to lighten up, laugh more and not be so stiff.
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