Soup Night (28 page)

Loveland, Colorado

They call themselves the West Endies, the residents of this very active historic neighborhood on the west side of downtown Loveland. And they do a Soup Night with gusto.

As is often the case with long-standing traditions, it’s not completely clear how this Soup Night got started.

Laurie Wells
remembers it this way: “We moved into the neighborhood in 2006, and didn’t know anyone. I had read a magazine article about a Soup Night in California, and I thought, ‘We could do that. Let’s start it at our house.’ So that first year we were hosts. Other people contributed ideas. Flyers announced ‘BYOBS’ — bring your own bowl and spoon — so the host didn’t have to do lots of dishwashing afterward. The very first night, we learned that we needed to set an ending time. People were having such a good time they didn’t want to leave! Later we put out a sign-up sheet for hosts, and that’s all it took.”

Regina Roberts
has a different picture in her mind: “At the end of one of our streets there’s a guardrail and beyond it is a beautiful view of the Colorado Rockies. Some of our neighbors used to gather there on summer evenings with a glass of wine and watch the sunset. At one point someone said, ‘What shall we do in the winter?’ Then Channing [Meyer] came up with the idea of Soup Night in people’s homes.”

I like to think that both these neighbors are right, that both these things happened simultaneously — and besides, does it really matter? Of course not.

“The main idea was to make it completely inclusive,” Laurie says. “We were really worried that people would hear about it and realize that they weren’t invited. So we sent kids around the neighborhood with flyers: ‘Everyone’s invited — bring your friends too.’ It also coincided with the start of the recession. People seemed to become more interactive then, sharing tools, things like that. Soup Night just seemed to fit with where people were at the time.”

As the months passed, they fine-tuned the idea. Now Soup Night is every other week during the winter months, January through May. Somebody came up with the name West Endies, and
Channing Meyer
, who owns an advertising agency, created an e-mail newsletter and a website for the neighborhood, including a calendar that lists all the events.

The full e-mail list (neighbors plus friends) has more than 100 names, and somewhere between 25 and 40 people usually attend. There are always two soups, one of which is vegetarian. To handle that many people, cohosting is common. Sometimes people bring wine and other dishes to share, but the only real requirement is that everyone bring their own bowl and spoon. The invites always remind folks: BYOBS.

“It’s a really nice event for everyone,” Laurie says. “We have drawn people of all ages, and I’ve seen really good connections develop. For example, two single women lived around the corner from each other but didn’t know each other until they met at Soup Night. They ended up traveling to Mexico together. It’s really sweet to watch those kinds of connections happen.”

Channing Meyer, who created the website that keeps the neighbors informed, points out that the Soup Night spirit has spilled over into other neighborhood events. They have a block party, a neighborhood garage sale, “orphan Thanksgiving,” and movie nights in the summertime. The movie nights include a potluck dinner, tied to the theme of the movie. To view
Like Water for Chocolate
, people were asked to bring something chocolate; and for
The Help
, a Southern dish. All these activities nourish the sense of community in this neighborhood.

“Sometimes,” Channing says, “people don’t realize that they want community, until they see it in action. It doesn’t just happen, we have to take the time to make it happen. You can’t just stand aside. So we do it — we just do.”

Regina Roberts adds a poignant personal story: “My husband and I came from West Virginia 13 years ago. Back there we had a community of like-minded friends who met once a month for Sunday brunch. We really missed that when we came to Colorado. Then we started this Soup Night, which led to other types of neighborhood gatherings, and suddenly there was a community — just what we had been looking for, and it was right in front of us. Everyone needs support and friendship — everyone. I believe that if everyone had a Soup Night to go to, there would no more crime, no more war. I really do believe that.”

• Cream of Sherried Mushroom Soup
  
• Carrot-Orange-Ginger Soup
  
• Cornbread Souffle
  

Recipe from
Regina Roberts
, Loveland, Colorado

Serves 6

Regina says: Since one [carrot soup] recipe called for orange juice, and we eat a lot of organic oranges, we developed the habit of saving the zest of every orange through the season. I thought it would make the soup especially unique if I added a lot of zest. We also love nutmeg and ginger, of which I added plenty. And of course, maple syrup makes everything better! We often serve this with [husband] John’s delicious Cornbread Soufflé (see
page 221
).

• 2 pounds carrots, preferably organic
  
• 3 cups water or vegetable broth
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1
  ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  teaspoons salt
  
• 2 oranges
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 1 large onion, diced
  
• 6 garlic cloves, minced (more if you really like garlic)
  
• 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated (more if you really like ginger)
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₃
  cup chopped almonds
  
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₄
  teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg, or more to taste
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  

• Sour cream or plain yogurt
  
• Sliced almonds, toasted (see note,
  page 155
  )
  
• Orange zest strips (see step 2 for preparation)
  
• Additional finely chopped fresh parsley
  

1. 1.
   Scrub the carrots but don’t peel them, and slice thinly. Add the water or broth to a large soup pot along with the carrots, bay leaf, and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium heat until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf, and let the soup cool to room temperature.
   
2. 2.
   While the carrots are cooking, prepare the oranges and lemon. From one orange, remove the zest in strips, then slice the strips into thin matchsticks; reserve, for garnish. Grate the zest from the other orange and the lemon. Then slice all three fruits in half and squeeze out the juices. Set aside all zest and juice.
   
3. 3.
   Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and almonds, and sauté until golden. Add the sautéed mixture to the soup pot.
   

(Making Adequate Nutrition Accessible)

Truckee, California

In 2009, deep into the recession, two restaurant chefs decided to try to help feed people who were struggling financially. The result was Stone Soup, occurring every Sunday night from January through April, designed to “bring the community together in times of economic stress. If you’re not in need, you can come eat soup and donate some money. Bring your own bowl and spoon.”

The dinners are held in the local community arts center, with generally 40 to 50 guests. Each week a different local organization cooks and serves for that night. Local bands play music and local restaurants donate dessert.

“We take only donations,” project director Stephanie Blume explains, “but in the end the donations are enough that we are able to hire an organizer, so now the event really runs itself. We have a broad range of ages and demographics, and together they create an overall atmosphere that is very welcoming and kind. The whole idea was to bring the entire community together for soup, and it’s working.”

• www.projectmana.org
  

San Francisco, California

Darya
started her Soup Night when she was living in a house in the San Francisco area with three roommates. Darya and her roommates never felt really comfortable inviting strangers into their home (young women in a big city, very understandable), so rather than reaching out to unknown neighbors, they decided that each roommate would invite friends and encourage them to bring other friends. This produced a free-floating happy mix of folks who often found interesting connections. A typical gathering was 20 people.

The four roommates took turns cooking, two people per month, always one vegetarian soup and one not. When interviewing potential new roommates, along with all the usual conversation about smoking, friends staying over, and garbage detail, Darya always made it clear they would have to be willing to cook for a large group of people, many of whom they would not know, once a month.

Serves 6

Unexpected flavors of orange and allspice take this chicken soup to a new level. For an even richer taste and extra protein, swirl in about
¹
⁄
₄
cup peanut butter. You don’t appreciably taste it as peanut butter, but it lends a deeper flavor to the broth.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size chunks
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced
  
• 1 green pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped
  
• 2 carrots, scrubbed and chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
  
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₄
  teaspoon orange zest
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₃
  cup orange juice
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  teaspoon sugar
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₄
  teaspoon salt
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₈
  teaspoon ground allspice
  
• 4 cups chicken broth
  

1. 1.
   Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until the meat loses its pink color. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion, garlic, pepper, and carrots to the same skillet and sauté until the carrots are beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.
   
2. 2.
   Melt the butter in a large soup pot over low heat; whisk in the flour, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato sauce, orange zest and juice, sugar, salt, and allspice, and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
   
3. 3.
   Add the broth and the chicken mixture to the soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer about 15 minutes. Serve hot.
   

Make ahead?
Yes.

For large crowds:
You could easily double or triple everything but the chicken, increase it fractionally, and still have wonderful soup.