Page Two Hundred Twenty-Nine.
I was invited to sell my mazto ball soup at an arts benefit over this last weekend. I feel like my matzo ball soup is gradually taking on a life of its own, but I don't mind that. I can't really say that I sold a lot, only about 10 quarts, but that's okay. The attendance was somewhat lower than anticipated so that was probably the reason I brought too much back home with me. I really did better than many of the other vendors, so I'm not going to complain.
I also made a fantastic connection. The vendor sitting next to me is on the board for another arts festival which is held every November and she LOVED me and my soup so she invited me to that other festival. The chairwoman for this other event happened to show up too, and was quite smitten with my product as well. She sent my application this morning.
Arts festivals are really a world all their own. I ran into an old friend, Randy, who's married to a jeweler who does exceedingly well working the circuit. Randy was manning his wife's booth and he told me that she travels all over Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and anywhere else possible. They put 35,000 miles on the car last year hawking her wares, but she supports the entire family financially. So there you go. It really is possible to make a living as an artist but hard work, perseverance, salesmanship and travel are definitely part of the equation.
And then you have people like me who sells artisanal foods at these events. I mean, let's be honest, you don't often see matzo ball soup being sold at arts festivals. I'm a novelty act.
When I was a child I read an Archie comic book in which Betty wanted to paint a picture of date-nut bread for the local art show. She started out by making a loaf to use as a model. Everybody in the neighborhood could smell the bread as it was baking so people kept approaching her to purchase some date-nut goodness. Eventually, she simply sold loaves at the art show and everybody was so thrilled with her bread that she won a prize. There you go. Art is art whether it's jewelry, date-nut bread or matzo ball soup. (As a matter of fact, when I was 18 I donated some homemade cookies to an art opening at a local non-profit art gallery. I won a blue ribbon for those things even though there was no official category for food. I forgot all about that until writing this blog.)
Showing posts with label Matzo Ball Soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matzo Ball Soup. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
On Selling Matzo Ball Soup At An Art Opening
Page One Hundred Eighty-Seven.
Last night, I was a vendor at an art opening at one of our local colleges. For the past 10 years or so, I've helped out in an organizational capacity at this annual affair. Also, in the past I've handed out my food as free samples at the event. The college has always reimbursed me for the cost of supplies and I get wonderful exposure. This year they suggested that enough people know me by now that I should try to sell my stuff. So I showed up with soup in hand. Lots of soup to be exact. Being February in Cleveland, can you think of anything better? I ended up selling 11 & 1/2 quarts of my homemade Matzo Ball soup... a virtual sell out. Very nice.
Last night, I was a vendor at an art opening at one of our local colleges. For the past 10 years or so, I've helped out in an organizational capacity at this annual affair. Also, in the past I've handed out my food as free samples at the event. The college has always reimbursed me for the cost of supplies and I get wonderful exposure. This year they suggested that enough people know me by now that I should try to sell my stuff. So I showed up with soup in hand. Lots of soup to be exact. Being February in Cleveland, can you think of anything better? I ended up selling 11 & 1/2 quarts of my homemade Matzo Ball soup... a virtual sell out. Very nice.
Monday, April 8, 2013
A Chocolate Fountain Recipe
Page Fifty-Nine.
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I held a community Passover Seder at a local church. It was very successful. Final head count was, I think, about two hundred sixty people. The meal itself was large, hearty and filling. It was mostly traditional fare. We started with green salad with tomatoes, peppers, egg and gefilte fish. After salad, we had the matzo ball soup. Then, our main course was beef brisket, roasted root vegetables and green beans. Dinner was followed by a dessert of chocolate fountains with, as dippers: fresh fruit (strawberries, pineapple and bananas), many varieties of macaroons, egg matzo, walnuts, pretzels and potato chips.
People were just thrilled with the food, which made me very happy. But I'll tell you what's gross: the recipe for the chocolate fountain. Your chocolate has to be deceptively thin to work properly. After you've melted the chocolate chips, say, a few pounds, you then have to add to it 1/4 - 1/2 cup of pure vegetable oil. Once you've mixed the oil and chocolate thoroughly in a bowl with a spoon, you can pour it into the fountain and off you go. But I'm telling you, the chocolate has got to be really thin. Just don't tell anybody what you've just done because they'll get sick. I'll tell you what though. If you don't add enough oil, the fountain simply won't work. The chocolate will clog the feeder tube and you'll have one serious mess on your hands.
Chocolate fondue doesn't require so much oil, just a little bit of butter, but with 260 people, fondue isn't a viable alternative either. So next year, if I do another Seder, it'll be tons of chocolate with tons of vegetable oil. Oh, well.
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I held a community Passover Seder at a local church. It was very successful. Final head count was, I think, about two hundred sixty people. The meal itself was large, hearty and filling. It was mostly traditional fare. We started with green salad with tomatoes, peppers, egg and gefilte fish. After salad, we had the matzo ball soup. Then, our main course was beef brisket, roasted root vegetables and green beans. Dinner was followed by a dessert of chocolate fountains with, as dippers: fresh fruit (strawberries, pineapple and bananas), many varieties of macaroons, egg matzo, walnuts, pretzels and potato chips.
People were just thrilled with the food, which made me very happy. But I'll tell you what's gross: the recipe for the chocolate fountain. Your chocolate has to be deceptively thin to work properly. After you've melted the chocolate chips, say, a few pounds, you then have to add to it 1/4 - 1/2 cup of pure vegetable oil. Once you've mixed the oil and chocolate thoroughly in a bowl with a spoon, you can pour it into the fountain and off you go. But I'm telling you, the chocolate has got to be really thin. Just don't tell anybody what you've just done because they'll get sick. I'll tell you what though. If you don't add enough oil, the fountain simply won't work. The chocolate will clog the feeder tube and you'll have one serious mess on your hands.
Chocolate fondue doesn't require so much oil, just a little bit of butter, but with 260 people, fondue isn't a viable alternative either. So next year, if I do another Seder, it'll be tons of chocolate with tons of vegetable oil. Oh, well.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Matzo Ball Soup - The Secret
Page Forty-One.
Soon after moving in with the Van Myms, in '82, I was rummaging through Amanda's spice cabinet. I picked up a bottle labeled "Cardamom" and smelled it, never having heard of it before. I thought it smelled like chicken soup. Amanda explained that cardamom is used primarily in central Asian cuisine and Scandinavian desserts of all things. But she did have to admit that I was right, though she'd never noticed it before; cardamom smells like good chicken soup.
I'd learned to make Matzo Ball soup by that point: buy the box and follow the directions. But I decided to doctor it up with cardamom the following Passover. It was really good! I've been adding it to my Matzo Ball soup ever since and also add just a pinch to my real chicken soup. People enjoy it tremendously.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend hosted a pop-up shop in his backyard and invited artists and craftspeople to come and sell their wares. I showed up and sold my soup. I SOLD OUT. Of course it helped that the pop-up shop was outside, here in Cleveland, on February 9th (30 degrees fahrenheit). Frozen people walked into the enclosure and immediately smelled my hot soup. So, of course, they bought. But still, I sold 43 pints of soup in seven hours. That's pretty good no matter what the temperature.
If you want to improve your chicken soup or make even better Matzo Ball soup, add a dash of cardamom to your broth.
Soon after moving in with the Van Myms, in '82, I was rummaging through Amanda's spice cabinet. I picked up a bottle labeled "Cardamom" and smelled it, never having heard of it before. I thought it smelled like chicken soup. Amanda explained that cardamom is used primarily in central Asian cuisine and Scandinavian desserts of all things. But she did have to admit that I was right, though she'd never noticed it before; cardamom smells like good chicken soup.
I'd learned to make Matzo Ball soup by that point: buy the box and follow the directions. But I decided to doctor it up with cardamom the following Passover. It was really good! I've been adding it to my Matzo Ball soup ever since and also add just a pinch to my real chicken soup. People enjoy it tremendously.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend hosted a pop-up shop in his backyard and invited artists and craftspeople to come and sell their wares. I showed up and sold my soup. I SOLD OUT. Of course it helped that the pop-up shop was outside, here in Cleveland, on February 9th (30 degrees fahrenheit). Frozen people walked into the enclosure and immediately smelled my hot soup. So, of course, they bought. But still, I sold 43 pints of soup in seven hours. That's pretty good no matter what the temperature.
If you want to improve your chicken soup or make even better Matzo Ball soup, add a dash of cardamom to your broth.
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