FFwD: Mushroom Soup

As many of the other FFwD bloggers  have posted, this is an ugly soup.  It tastes great but the color (kind of a dirty grayish brown) is not at all appetizing.  I found that the mise-en-place (i.e. all the mushroom and onion slicing) took a long time but once the ingredients were prepared the soup, like most of the other recipes I've tried so far, was easy to make.  I didn't have parsley so I used sage instead (along with rosemary and thyme).  After everyone's comments about puréeing the soup, I decided to stick with the immersion blender.  I did get a bit of soup spattered on the stove and teapot, but it was easy enough to clean up and the soup was thick and creamy.  Though it looked like the little bits of mushroom might make it gritty, that wasn't the case.  I tried to hide the ugly color by swirling in about a tablespoon of sour cream (in a spiral pattern) and sprinkling some sliced mushrooms in half.  I also served it in low light. :-)  It was really, really, really good (and I don't usually like mushroom soup)!  There is a heartiness to it that is filling.  The spices really enhanced the flavor of the mushrooms giving it an earthiness that was appealing.  Just don't look at it too closely in bright lights...