Attention optimists:  winter is coming, the weather is turning, we are all doomed.  It is hopeless to continue reliving summer over and over in our heads. We cling to a desperate hope that sunlight collected weeks ago will somehow keep us warm in the dark months ahead, and meanwhile the days are getting shorter and our will is getting weaker. Soon, our cheeks will be flushed candy-cane red and white and dirty slush will find its way into every nook and cranny of our homes. A walk to the store will resemble an arctic voyage that would make Balto a little queasy. The very concept of cooking will seem laughably asinine when hot coffee and steaming bowls of soup are available on every streetcorner.  In preparation for the inevitable, I offer you a recipe for a vegetarian soup so spicy that your mouth will burn pleasantly for days, so sweet that you will forget the pitter-patter of sleet on the kitchen windows. After all, Christmas is a long way off.