Soup Sundays: I’ve started a new thing! It’s called Soup Sundays and it’s this idea I have to create a space for those of us who tend to cook alone to cook, well, together.
And the second ever Soup Sunday event was a success!
Since this is a new thing I’m doing, I’m using this Review to go over the details – I want to see what I like (and want to keep) and what things I might want to change in the future.
.
Soup Sunday #2: January 15, 2012
Recipe: Lentil Sausage Soup, by Ina Garten
Things That Went Well
Community! - The whole point of Soup Sundays is community. Of sharing the fun and the work of cooking with others. This week three intrepid cooks joined me for the adventure and it was just lovely. I have so much gratitude and appreciation to D, C, and H for taking the leap to try this new thing out with me. We spent about two hours talking while we chopped, cooked, cleaned up, and relaxed. And those two hours could not have flown by faster. I was actually surprised to find my soup ready to eat at the end of the call. Where did that time go? Oh right, I was hanging out with friends the whole time! So lovely.
Kielbasa sausage spice blend
The recipe! - Yum. Ina Garten never disappoints. Her recipes are simple and consistently delicious – a big reason I felt confident in using her recipe even though I hadn’t tested it yet. I made the kielbasa from scratch (so, so good!) and had simmer a pot of chicken stock on Saturday from the carcass of a roasted chicken. I personally think the soup is better for having these from-scratch ingredients on hand, but have no doubt a version with store-bought stock and sausage would also be satisfying and delicious.
Timing - Other than prepping the sausage and stock in advance, the entire soup was prepared during the call. This is not like on cooking shows where everything is pre-chopped and prepped in a neat little mise en place. Timing is really not my forte in the kitchen (I once mis-timed a roast chicken dinner so badly one of my guests fell asleep waiting for it!), so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of how much of the soup would get made during the call. But I was able to chop all of the veggies, saute everything, and let it simmer while we chatted about food and cooking tricks and such. It was done just as our call was ending. Perfect!
Flexibility! - Soup Sundays are a way for us to share each other’s company while cooking. And while I provide a recipe that we can use as a shared resource, I also encourage everyone to modify or change it at will. Especially because I know people have different tastes, diets, and ingredient needs. I’m so glad that permission was clearly stated – each Soup Sunday adventurer ended up making something totally different! One friend made butternut squash soup with coconut milk. Another made a vegetarian bean and veggie stew. Another made a cream-less cream of broccoli soup. And it was so cool that we each got to talk about our recipes, how we were changing them up, and making them our own. I think we’d have fun making the same recipe too, but definitely like that each person felt comfortable using the shared time and space to make what sounded good to them. Yay!
Things That Didn’t Go Well
Being in teacher mode - I am primarily a teacher. It’s the mode I fall into as a default. And not knowing what to expect or how the Soup Sunday thing would go, I kind of prepared for it with a teacher mindset. But that’s not the mode I want to be in for this experience. I want to just be a friend amongst friends who get together to cook once in awhile. I don’t think being in teacher mode really hurt anything, but it’s something I want to be aware of for the future.
Technology (again, but different) - The recording worked this time! Yay! So my issue with technology this time is primarily about convenience. When I’m in the kitchen, I want to be able to move around freely and still be able to hear what people are saying during the call. For whatever reason, my iPhone speaker was not doing a great job during the audio tests I ran before the actual call so I did the whole thing via Skype on my computer. Having to walk around the kitchen with my laptop is really not how I want to be cooking. I’m going to need to problem-solve some more about how to use my actual cell phone, which is way more portable.
Enormous amounts of food - The recipe, while delicious, would have served a dozen people. So.much.food. Fortunately, I have some Easy Cooking for One tricks for that, but I think I could have easily made half the recipe and still had leftovers. Maybe the fact that the recipe called for EIGHT CUPS of chopped onions and leaks and THREE QUARTS of chicken stock should have been a clue. Sure am glad I like the result!
Welcoming new participants - I have an interesting challenge here of wanting to at once make it easy for people to learn about Soup Sunday and join in if they want while also keeping the details private and secure. I don’t want anyone who just googles “soup” to call in to our little party. I’m going to be thinking about how I can balance these two needs. For now, if you’re interested in joining the small band of adventurers that get Soup Sunday information, join my New Things announcement list. You’ll get emails about new things I’m offering (like my Write Your Own Food Story class next Sunday) and you’ll also get Soup Sunday details + access to the secret page where all Soup Sunday info is kept (including recordings of past events).
.
Overall Impression
I absolutely adore Soup Sundays! Right now, I see it as this fledgling little adventure – one where folks I know or have interacted with online have joined me for the shared experience of cooking and community. I’m looking forward to working out the little kinks in the way we do this, making it easier for people to join in (even if I haven’t met them yet) and participate when they want to. So thanks for reading about the process – it helps me enormously to write about the experience and figure out what I like and what I want to change.
