Soup and Necks

(Apologies for the delay in posting — I’ve been hit with a yicky cold and all I want to do is lie around and, yup, eat soup.)

This week’s Soup and Bread was a lot of fun, if, erm, cozier than past weeks. Our friends at the Immediate Sound Series brought in a baby grand piano for Wednesday night’s (amazing, moving) set by the Necks, and it needed to be tuned and run through its paces before the show — so all Soup and Bread activities were restricted to the front room. Which was, I know, a little tight. Sorry about that, but we all have to share! Mitch Cocanig and his jazz crew have been great sports about having their mellow preshow scene co-opted by a bunch of freaky soup people; it was the least I could do.

(And that baby grand sounded SO beautiful. Can we keep it?)

This week’s happening was also more crowded because — unbeknownst to me at the time — we’ve been getting some more press. Thanks very much to Stacy Warden for her great writeup on (in? at?) Centerstage this week; I’d forgotten that was still pending.

In the crocks: Celeste Dolan produced “Senate Soup,” a light ham and navy bean concoction adapted from the famous soup served daily in the U.S. Senate cafeteria. Carol Watson from Milk & Honey brought a knockout vegetarian black bean soup with sidecars of cilantro crema and fresh tortilla strips. Diana Gurley’s hefty beef and barley was pretty darn satisfying too. And Gary James and Carmen Capotosto’s veggie red lentil got raves — and was gone before I had a chance to try it. (Gary! Recipe!)

We made $159 in donations, and — just for the record — sent off a check for January’s collective take to the Food Depository this week, a whopping $655. Thanks again to all for your most truly awesome generosity.

Recipes coming soon.

Tags: celeste dolan, Celestial Kitchens, Diana Gurley, Gary James, Immediate Sound Series, Milk and Honey, Senate Soup, the Necks