Since “soup” doesn’t begin with “A” and “nuts” doesn’t begin with “Z,” one might wonder what the derivation of the phrase “from soup to nuts” actually is. (Well, at least this “one” wondered.)
The U.S. colloquialism is generally defined as meaning “from beginning to end” — everything from A to Z. Come to find out, the idiom originally referred to a full course dinner of at least four and up to 16 courses served during the 1800s. The first course was typically soup and the last was a glass of port served with nuts. Voila — soup to nuts!
Jane Strader and her weekly soup.
I start my column with soup. Jane Strader loves making soup. Many Mazamans have eaten her soup when she was making it for the Mazama Store. Now, Jane is continuing to make two batches of soup weekly at Kathy B’s Kitchen at TwispWorks and delivers it to Winthrop and Mazama on Wednesdays.
News of current food options travels quickly around the valley. A night off of home cooking is a welcomed luxury now. I learned of Jane’s soups and signed up for her weekly newsletter describing her soups for the week.
Her offerings last week were pink radish and cauliflower soup and Moroccan beef and carrot stew. Ingredients include local organic vegetables and beef and a hearty cornbread muffin for soaking up the last spoonfuls. I opted for the stew and enjoyed every bite, from beginning to end.
Jane’s email is straderssoupery@gmail.com. She is happy to send out her newsletter with her soups of the week.
Another interesting fact about soups: Kai Mayfair, a Michelin Star London restaurant, holds the Guinness World Record for the most expensive soup — $190 for a soup called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (even a vegetarian Buddhist monk will scale the temple wall to have the soup). It contains such delicacies as shark’s fin, abalone, Japanese flower mushroom, sea cucumber, dried scallops, and ginseng, and takes three days to prepare. Of note, the soup is no longer on the menu due to the controversial inclusion of shark fin and abalone.
Cloudbird Bonin and her Grab N Go veggie box.
Another option for pick-up in Mazama is Ruby Slippers Farm’s Grab N Go Veggie Box delivered to the Mazama Community Club on Wednesdays. Each week, Cloudbird Bonin packs a box with such gems as Red Russian kale, Hakurei turnips, Pac Choi, and salad mix. She offers recipes for some of the lesser-known vegetables or one that utilizes a couple of items in the box such as strawberry rhubarb pie. Thus far this season, she has also offered beautiful bouquets of peonies to accent your best home-cooked meal.
Contact cloudbird3@gmail.com for more information.
A final food news flash for today: Taco Bahia began partnering with the Mazama Store from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday to bring beer, ice cream, and absolutely amazing tacos for socially distanced summertime patio dining.
Speaking of summertime — it’s here. The summer solstice, which began on June 20, gave us the longest day of the year and some much-needed vitamin D. In Seattle, the solstice parade of painted naked cyclists was officially canceled, but scaled down to a modified parade route. I only saw the spectacle one time, but, oh, my … some things you just don’t need to see.
So, where are the nuts? Oh, here come the nuts! I had a recipe for potluck quinoa that called for hazelnuts. I scoured all the nut places at the market and could not find them. A helpful grocer looked further and found no hazelnuts. “I’ll have the person who does orders for this department order some,” she said confidently. I was skeptical.
Next grocery shopping trip, sure enough, there were the nuts! The quinoa dish was scrumptious.
That was a pretty feeble “nut” story, but nevertheless we made it from “soup to nuts!”
