The story of "stone soup" exists all over the world. In my favorite variation, a hungry traveler appears in a village with nothing but an empty cooking pot, a spoon, and his appetite. When the suspicious villagers will not show him any hospitality, he sets up his cooking pot in the village square and begins to boil water with a simple stone in it. As the curious townsfolk pass by and ask him what he is doing, he stirs the pot and tells them that he is making stone soup. Further, he explains that at the end of the day when the soup is ready, everyone will be welcome to come and share it with him. Eventually, one person ventures that the soup might taste better with a few onions. Soon the villagers are each bringing a couple of carrots, a potato, a little salt, whatever they have on hand to add to the stone soup. At the end of the day, the whole town shares a delicious pot of soup (minus the stone, of course), and they have also learned a valuable lesson about the joys of shari...
Good morning friends! Tonight starts Rosh Hashanah (literally the “head of the year”). It begins the period of the High Holy Days, which is a time of self-reflection and prayer, culminating in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It's traditional to eat things that are round and sweet for Rosh Hashanah, like apples with honey, figs, dates, and roasted chicken :-) Alright, chicken isn't exactly round, but with a honey glaze, it's found on our table each year! Before I can start to cook today, I have so many things to tell you about. I'll start with the wonderful Harmony + Hope Concert that our friends Margaret Phillips and Rebecca Strauss performed for us yesterday afternoon. It was an amazing event, with Margaret and Rebecca sharing stories about their instruments, the music, and themselves, encouraging everyone to ask questions and to interact with what they were playing. We can't thank them enough for giving us so much of their time and talents! There ar...