The Joys of Stone Soup

Last year, we had a Chinese exchange student stay for the year. It's wonderful to see the world through the eyes of someone who is seeing America for the first time.

Over the past year, his mother and I have become friends. We've spoken on the phone many times. Her written English is practically perfect. Her spoken English is accented, but when she follows up our phone calls with an email, I see that her spoken English is perfect as well.

Of course, the main thing to keep in mind is that her English is a hell of a lot better than my Chinese!

As a surprise, I learned she was going to be in Seattle yesterday. She will be here for a few days, then she and her son are going to travel in the US on the way back to China.

Tonight, she is slumbering over.

To celebrate her visit, I invited a group of friends over for "Stone Soup." What is Stone Soup? It's whatever you have in the refrigerator and/or pantry. Because I hadn't been to the store this week, that is really all I had to offer.

My Stone Soup consisted of the following: I had one very large head of cauliflower, some onions, some garlic, some Parmesan cheese, a small container of artichokes and a bag of potatoes on the back porch. In other words ~ Stone Soup.

Oh, dear, it was wonderful! I sauteed the onions and garlic in olive oil, steamed the cauliflower, put it and the onions and garlic through the Cuisinart, threw it all back into the large pot with veggie broth, then grated some potatoes with their peels, added some freshly grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and voila! Delicious! Actually, really delicious.

My next door neighbor brought over a sourdough baguette. I put it in the oven at 150 degrees to warm. I had a bottle of red truly vin ordinaire. And, of course, my smoked wild salmon to crumble over the Stone Soup.

It was so wonderful.

Cat Stevens was on the speakers in the dining room. The Stone Soup was fresh and hot and flavorful. Who knew?

The company was sparkling and the conversation with animated. Everyone had a glass of red wine. Much laughing and talking and visiting. Toasts all around. Completely convivial. And, very international. How great is that?