Stone Soup

I think most everyone knows the story of Stone Soup. It is an old fable that has been retold and reinterpreted many, many times. The first time I heard it, the protagonist was described as an old woman instead of a couple of hungry travelers. I was spellbound. Listening to the beauty of the clever story, how this old woman convinces the villagers to contribute to her stone soup. How all the people who did not have so much on their own came together to make something wonderful. How everyone has something to contribute. How soup was MAGIC because it made water into food.

Perhaps because we didn't have a lot when I was young, I thought the idea of finding something from practically nothing was amazing. I liked the idea that things that looked worthless apart could together be useful and valued. That when people work together on a big problem, even on something that seems enormous and insurmountable (like hunger), it becomes smaller and more manageable. As a child, I thought Stone Soup was BRILLIANT. I still do.

All this is by way of saying that I think that fable led me to my love of cooking and, more importantly, to a lifelong, deep-seated love of soup. I think of it as food that nourishes the soul as well as the body. I have made some of my best soups a'la the Stone Soup method - by rooting around and figuring out what I already had in the pantry. When I am sad or tired or the world is just a leetle more than I am up for, thankyouverymuch, I make soup. I go through a mental list of ingredients I have at home. I make a shopping list. I go to the store and buy the things I need. I go home and scrub my kitchen till it gleams (because I like to make soup - a time consuming ritual for me - in a spotless kitchen). And then I do my thing.

It makes me slow down because my best soups have long cooking times. It's meditative. It's a healing process. It reminds me that everything doesn't have to be hard or complicated. It's like putting together bits and pieces and making something nourishing somehow reminds me that there is good in the world amidst all the ugly bits.

The world hasn't been so great lately.

Tonight I'm making soup.


If you also love soup, I reccommend checking out the Soup Peddler. His book has suggestions for throwing Stone Soup parties (a brilliant idea that is catching on). The book and website also contain his story - which is an inspiration to people looking for their place in life as well as for lovers of soup.

Oh, and there's also this:


My little sister's very fond of The Mighty Boosh... I am not particularly familiar but I figure anyone who writes a silly song about soup is ok in my book.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

© Never Bashful with Butter - click the photo to visit her blog!

I'm not EVEN kidding. Since I have recently talked about finger foods and their importance to the holiday, I MUST share this link found via Dave Barry's blog (which tends to ROCK). Never Bashful With Butter created these wacky Bacon Chocolate chip cookies on sort of a dare from her husband and she swears that they are actually very good. So... who's brave enough to try it?

I bet my brother in law would LOVE these. He says bacon is "The King of Meats."

Important Holiday Tradition: Finger Foods

Totally stole this photo from Kraft, but you know what? I use their cheese to make this recipe. ALWAYS. So I think we're even.

Why is it festive to eat food with your fingers? Because people do it at cocktail parties? Because nothing says wild and crazy fun like eschewing silverware? I don't know. But it's TRUE. Finger food = holiday fun

In my family, the particular favorite that just says Oodles of Holiday Joy to us are Sausage Cheese Balls. People have been making these since the invention of Bisquick (a.k.a. "all-purpose baking mix"). Perhaps even before then when housewives everywhere had to use - gasp! - ORDINARY FLOUR (and other stuff). Seriously. The Sausage Cheese ball recipe has been around a LONG time. These "easy party favorites" have been touted in Betty Crocker cookbooks and on the backs of baking mix boxes. Don't make them if you're trying to set up an impressive looking spread because they just aren't pretty. They are ugly, unsophisticated balls of cheesy, spicy joy. My family loves them.

Google Sausage Cheese Balls and you will see 100 variations on the same basic theme insofar as the recipe goes, the main argument being over ratio of cheese to sausage to baking mix.

My Family's Sausage Cheese Balls

are as follows:

1lb. sausage (one of those plastic wrapped logs o' meat)
16 oz. Kraft sharp cheddar cheese (if the recipe is too oily, try switching some of the cheese to the 2% lowfat variety)
2 cups Bisquick or your fave baking mix

(you rocket scientists out there will notice that this is essentially a 1-1-1 ratio. 1lb. = 16 oz. = 2 cups. Yay, MATH!)

Optional additions: chopped onions, French's crispy fried onion thingies or - what I use - a dash of cayenne pepper
If you do not eat pork, you can use Turkey sausage. This recipe is very forgiving in regards to subsitutions, just make sure you have enough whole fat cheese and meat for the recipe to work!

Traditionally recipes tell you to just mix it all together. Don't do that. Mix all the cheese and baking mix (along with any other additions) together as evenly as possible - you're going to need to use your hands, ladies - and THEN work in the sausage. Don't overwork it once the sausage is in, just knead it enough for the sausage fat to spread around a bit and help hold the mixture together. This way, some chunks of sausage stay intact, making the end result much tastier and the cheese and sausage flavors more distinguishable. Personally, I usually cut out a little of the baking mix. I put in 1.5 cups and then add a little of that last half cup later if it seems necessary.

Roll the dough into roughly 1" balls, place on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350º for about 20 minutes or until they are turning golden brown but not actually burning. You may want to let them sit on paper towels for a bit before serving, which is what I do.

For the uninitiated, this is going to sound WIERD. No liquids to make the baking mix stick together? NO. NO additional liquids. Trust me. Once the sausage and cheese begin to cook, they release a lot of oil which bonds the mixture together and provides the "liquid" component of this dough. Sounds awful, but tastes like ooey-gooey heaven.

They are good cold. They are good the next day. My family has always had them for breakast on Christmas day (and Thanksgiving day). My mother makes enough for an army (the recipe as listed above makes A LOT) and then we all snack on them non-stop for days.

Speaking of classic old-time holiday finger foods (drumroll please) this recipe for Holiday Bacon Appetizers appeared on The Pioneer Woman Cooks - source of brilliant artery cloggin' goodness - and I am making these bacon bites along with the sausage cheese balls for some guests this holiday season. They're all going to look at the spread and ask if I'm trying to kill them with premature heart attacks. Then they will eat every sausage and bacon laden bite... And swear undying fealty to me. Just you watch and see.

Good Food Deep South

I've been tagged.

Liza of Something Something (a really wonderful Israel based blog) tagged me with this meme. I am certainly a foodie, so the subject at hand cannot help but appeal, and it's got BRILLIANT practical applications -

The rules:
1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you. Include the city/state and country you’re in.

Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, USA)
Todd (Louisville, Kentucky, USA)
miss kendra (los angeles, california, USA)
Jiggs Casey (Berkeley, CA, USA)
Tits McGee (New England, USA)
Kat (Ontario, Canada)
Cheezy (London, England)
tafka PP (Jerusalem, Israel)
Liza ("Northern" Israel)
dame (Southeastern United States)

2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.


--1-- Five Star Day Cafe - Athens, Georgia - 229 E Broad St, Athens AND 2230 Barnett Shoals Rd, Athens- Southern, homestyle food and a quirky, sunny atmosphere. You order your food at the counter and then find a seat and the food is brought out to you. The menu offers barbeque, pot roast, roasted chicken, and - my favorite - the excellent river trout topped with a corn and black bean salsa as well as veggie plates that are piled high with three sides. The sides are southern classics like collard greens, fried green tomatoes, brilliant smoky macaroni and cheese (which, I suspect, has smoked gouda in it - brilliant), fried potato cakes and hoppin' john (black eyed peas and rice). They also serve brunch on Sundays and they always have some inexpensive items like a bowl of chicken and dumplings or PB&J sandwiches written up on the blackboard alongside the dessert of the day - usually a seasonal cobbler. My favorite place to eat in Athens bar none.

--2-- Flora and Ella's Restaurant - Labelle, Florida - 550 Highway 80 W, Labelle, FL 33935 - Classic Southern food and a warm friendly atmosphere. This place is what Cracker Barrel could have been modeled after, but it's the real deal. A great local restaurant with a little country store out front. All the classic southern standards - including a really excellent southern fried steak. My impression is that they are best known, however, for their pies. The pie selection is excellent and I worship their pecan pie. I love anywhere that serves a wide variety of pies and Flora and Ella's are worth going out of your way for.

--3-- European Street Cafe - Jacksonville, Florida - 2753 Park Street (Riverside) - Cute, eclectic bistro with a phenomenal beer selection, a wide variety of exotic sandwiches and salads as well as familiar classics, great German bratwurst (and genuine - warm - german potato salad!), and a little import shop where you can buy brilliant blackberry jam and the best candied fruit slices EVER. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed without being too casual, the staff is solicitous and professional, and the food is always very good. There are actually four locations in Jacksonville, but I always go to the one in Riverside which I believe is the original location.

--4-- Bahama Mama's Kitchen- Key West, Florida - 324 Petronia St (In the Bahama Village Market) - Best meal of my life. Seriously. Bahama Mama's Kitchen is a tiny little building with a small bar and soe open air seating outdoors, it's right next to a sort of makeshift craft market that is open during the day and is typically speckled with wild roosters and chickens wandering about. I was there in the summer, so we sat inside the little building. I seem to recall that there were maybe four or five tables. I had conch fritters and shrimp hash cakes and fried plantains followed by this dessert that was like funnel cake that had large juicy chunks of pineapple mixed into the batter. I could have eaten there every night. If I had to eat the food from one restaurant for the rest of my life, I think I'd live on those conch fritters and shrimp hash cakes and fried plantains quite happily. Being a big time foodie, I ate at at least a dozen restaurants in Key West. All but one restaurant (including this great nothing little stand that sold cuban food where I bought a brilliant bowl of rice and beans) proved the adage that you cannot get bad food in Key West but Bahama Mama's was by far and away the best meal I had there. I still crave it. I cannot wait to go back. Frommer's notes on Bahama Mama's Kitchen


...and there were supposed to be five. But THAT is why I hadn't put this up before. I'm picky. And these are the four I felt like listing. My apologies. As I have left it so long to respond, I'm not going to tag anyone - but if anyone would like to take up the challenge - especially in the Southeastern U.S. where the recommendations will do ME the most good! - please do so and let me know!