SOUP NIGHT

For the longest time now, I've wanted to blog about food. I love to cook, I love to entertain, I love to plan parties and menus, I love to eat, I love to feed other people. For someone who loves to cook, it's wonderful to have a husband who loves to eat. I thought No Reservations, Ratatouille, and Julie & Julia were three of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen! I even loved the parts in all the James Bond books (and I've read all the Fleming ones) where Ian Fleming was so good at describing what James was eating! It made my mouth water and I always wanted some of it right then and there.

So I feed my passion for food by cooking a lot. I even cook when I'm not hungry. It turns into leftovers for the following night or lunch the following day. When the urge strikes, I start searching the fridge and the pantry to see what I can concoct. My husband is a wonderful taste tester. He will eat anything I put in front of him. There's isn't much he doesn't like - not a picky eater which would depress me, I think.

I started this blog today because I was thinking a lot about my Soup Nights. Before I moved to the Ocean City, MD area, I lived in Cleveland, Ohio. A friend of mine hosted what she called Soup Night. She invited "everyone" she knew and had a big pot of soup on the stove, some crackers, bread, butter, and whatever anyone else brought along to add to the buffet. It was an open house type affair beginning at 6:30 in the evening, and finished when everyone was gone. When you got there, you helped yourself to soup whenever you wanted, and got to eat as much as you like. We each brought our own "cocktails" and she provided soft drinks.

We loved Soup Night. It was held once a month on the 1st or 2nd Saturday. We met a lot of nice people whom we'd never known before. The crowd was different each time. She had a really big house and two kids, so her friends brought their kids along too. They all usually went down to the lower level where they played until they fell asleep. They had a blast.

After we moved back to Ocean City (that's a whole different story - we met on the internet) I realized I missed Susan's Soup Nights. So I began having my own. Every year from October through March - 6 Soup Nights a year. We will finish up our third year coming up with the last Soup Night of the season next month.

My house is much smaller than Susan's, so ours is adults only. We don't have that many friends who have small kids anyway. There is simply not enough room in my house to have a lot of kids running around. The crowd is different each month. We started having what we call our 65th Street gang most of the time, about 10 people, and we have evolved to include people I work with, new friends we've made since living here, and a bunch of women that my husband takes yoga with! Last month, most of the guests were single which we found interesting. The guests are invited to Soup Night and never need another invitation. Once invited, always invited. Of course I do send out e-mails as reminders for the date or a change of date.

Each month I make a different, huge pot of soup, and smaller pot of something else. For example, I made a huge pot Chicken Paprikash Soup, and a smaller pot of Vegetable Soup. We have several vegetarian guests so I always try to make something for them too. I always have a table full of appetizers too. Cheese board, dips, crackers, veggie tray, etc. In some later posts, I'll include some menus and recipes and some anecdotes.

Soup Night. It's becoming a very warm tradition in our household and among our friends.