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It's one of those family recipes where something is changed or added with every generation. Like, my great-great-grandmother just made a simple, plain pumpkin soup. My great-grandmother added herbs and spices, nutmeg and rosemary, sage, thyme from her garden. My grandmother added garlic and onion. My mother roasts the pumpkin instead of boiling it and added a couple of small kumara (or sweet potato), and I use extra garlic that I also roast and I use a little parmesan cheese. I use some of the extra garlic to make a butter to spread on toast for the side. It's not like it's particularly fancy, it's just pumpkin soup, but whenever I make it, I make it with a lot of love, because it's all the memories of learning to make it with my mum. It was the first thing I learned to make. It's the warmth that it fills me with while it thunders and rains and hails outside, because it's my go-to for that kind of weather. It's the crunch of the toast. It's sharing something that I love with someone that I care about. And that's what cooking is supposed to be like. Happiness and love on a plate (or in a bowl).