Shrimp Potato Soup

Soups are one of my favorite things to make--ever. I think I may even like making soups more than cakes or breads.. if only for the fact that they're so easy to get right. Also, they're incredibly versatile. I had a myriad of ingredients and I was craving potato soup, so I came up with the following: 3 potatoes 2 garlic cloves (minced) fish stock 6 oz. cream cheese frozen shrimp herbs (I used parsley and bay leaves) enough water to cover potatoes for boiling The process of making the soup is a bit specific, but I'm sure you could mix it up depending on what type of soup you're going for. Boil potatoes and garlic in water and fish stock until tender. Turn off heat. Add cream cheese in small chunks and blend well. Add frozen shrimp, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover pot and let sit for about 10 minutes (or however long it takes the soup to warm the shrimp all the way through). You should be careful when reheating this soup as the shrimp can be over-cooked very easily and then become tough. ------- Now, another beautiful thing about this soup, like most potato soups, is that you can put almost anything else in it and it still tastes good! We had soup leftover from the first batch so I used it on leftover night. I had lots of other leftovers too: one baked potato, one serving pasta shells in a fish-sauce, two green onions, and one small bit of sun-dried tomato cheddar-type cheese. So, I did the natural thing one does with a soup and chopped and mixed everything together. It turned out wonderfully and we ate it with some fresh bread. Yay for leftovers!