To celebrate their mother’s birthday, the Thompson family decided to compile the cookbook they always thought that she should have written. They remembered all their favorite meals, though not necessarily all the details. Their mother was in Florida and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they asked for the recipes. So, they worked from their own recipes (not surprisingly many were making them for their own families) and upon consultation came to a rough estimate of each. The title came from a family legend. In the ancient past, the family had acquired a can of turtle meat. Many a time they consulted the recipe on the can for soup. Many a time they started the soup. Many a time when it came time to add the key ingredient, they thought it was very fine soup already. Too good in fact to risk diminishing.