Holidays 2003

The Stone Soup Way

In this season of inspiration and giving, we would like to share with you some ideas that have been inspiring to us.

Over the past year, we launched an exciting new program called Stone Soup Leadership: Inspiring Others to Do Great Things™. The program uses the metaphor of Stone Soup, an old fable in which three strangers show a reluctant village how to make soup from stone. The villagers lose their reluctance, and everyone contributes something to make a delicious and hearty soup that feeds the entire town. The story goes like this:

Three soldiers arrived in a village—tired and hungry from their long walk. They asked the villagers for some food and a bed to sleep in, but the villagers were wary of strangers and refused, saying that they really had nothing to offer. The soldiers conferred, and then told the villagers that if things were that desperate, they would just have to show them how to make soup from stones. The villagers, interested in this, found a large pot, filled it with water and made a fire. The soldiers put in some large stones, then asked for a little salt and pepper. A villager ran to get it. They suggested that the soup could really be improved with the addition of a bit of onion, a potato, and a cabbage. Soon the villagers were adding meat and other things they had hidden from the soldiers. When the soup was finished, it smelled so good that the villagers prepared a feast to go with it. They could not believe that such a splendid soup could be made from stones! The soldiers slept in soft beds that night and in the morning, the villagers gave them a great send-off. “Thank you!” they said. “Now we shall never go hungry!”

In Stone Soup Leadership™, we teach leaders how to inspire their teams so that everyone contributes and builds the vision and reality of success together. Inspiring others means understanding and connecting to that which motivates individuals, showing them how they can achieve their dreams through contributing their ideas and talents to something important and meaningful.

Among our holiday contributions this year is a gift to The Heifer Project (www.heifer.org), an organization that is a model of Stone Soup Leadership. They give families around the world the means to feed themselves and others by providing animals for them to raise, care for, and breed. Heifers, goats, ducks, chickens and other animals all provide sustenance for the family as well as a means to build a sustainable small business through their own efforts and entrepreneurial energy.

We used a “Stone Soup” approach for the following “Stone Soup Holiday Celebration.” We asked for input from everyone to put together an inspiring holiday celebration. At Barnes & Conti, one can readily see that our vision for an inspiring celebration includes food and drink.

We hope that you will try at least a few of the recipes in this newsletter. Even more than that, we hope that all of you will have a joyous and inspiring holiday celebration.

— Kim

A Stone Soup Holiday Celebration

Recipes and Articles:

Mongolian “Stone Soup” Hot Pot

Elaine Turcotte, our Operations Manager, says that this featured entreé is truly a meal unto itself. The meal is cooked at the table for a small group. Traditionally, it is prepared in a special hot pot —over coals which have extremely good ventilation and thick heat protection for the table. A moderately deep electric skillet is much easier—and safer—to use.

For the Hot Pot, each person uses a small wire basket with a long handle to hold and cook their ingredients in the hot broth. When everything is cooked, they pour the contents of the basket over rice and add sauces of their choice. Once everyone has almost had their fill, ramen noodles are added to the now-flavored broth and served in the rice bowls (sauces, rice and all). The whole concoction—from simple broth to varied ingredients to ramen noodles—makes a luscious “Stone Soup.”

Arrange selections of the pre-cut raw meats and/or vegetables in neat piles on plates and refrigerate until ready to eat. Note: When heating the broth, we found it saves time to add in some of the items that take the longest to cook and pre-cook them.

Ingredients:

8-10 cups cooked white rice
4 to 6 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth, simmering in a pot at center of dining table
1 package of ramen noodles (set aside and added to the broth at the end of the meal)

Suggested ingredients to cook in the hot pot, cut into small bite-sized pieces, presented raw:

Beef flank steak (figure on 1/6 - 1/4 lb per person)
Boneless chicken (figure on 1/6 - 1/4 lb per person)
Shrimp, cleaned and de-veined (figure on 1/6 - 1/4 lb per person)
Green onions
Spinach leaves, washed
Chinese greens (any), washed

Napa cabbage
Fresh mushrooms
Snow pea pods
Asparagus
Small broccoli flowers
Thin carrot slices
Frozen bean curd
Raw egg (makes the broth fantastic)

Sauces:

Peanut Sauce:

1/3 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp. salad oil
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
6 tbsp. broth (beef or chicken)

Cream Sauce:

1 1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. sherry
1/3 cup broth (beef or chicken)
1 tsp sesame oil

Soy Sauce:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Teriyaki Sauce:

Teriyaki sauce
A few thin slices of green onion tops (to distinguish from Soy Sauce mix)

This is a fun, slow paced meal that provides lots of time to talk while cooking.
Serves 4 to 6

A Traditional Glögg (a Scandinavian Hot Drink for the Holidays)

Glogg Johanna Seppäläinen, our Consulting Intern, translated this recipe for us from her native Finnish! It sounds wonderful after coming in from the cold.

Ingredients

5 dl. berry juice, not very sweet (Note: "dl." is deciliter, 5 dl is about 3 cups)
1 dl. sugar (about 1/2 cup, or to taste)
1-2 sticks of cinnamon
10 whole cloves
1 tsp. cardamom seeds
A piece of ginger
1 bottle of dry red wine
Optional: 1-2 dl. vodka: about 1/2 - 1 cup
In the glasses: peeled almonds and raisins

Bring the juice, sugar and spices to boil for 10-15 minutes. Strain the liquid. Mix in the wine. Heat up the Glögg, but do not let it boil. Pour the Glögg into the glasses or mugs, which already have the peeled almonds and raisins.

Serves about 10

Appetizers and Such:
Asparagus Wrapped with Prosciutto

Roslyn Raley, our Desktop Publishing Manager, submitted this from her vast collection of appetizer recipes.

Allow 2 to 3 asparagus stalks per guest.

Trim the asparagus (use medium-sized asparagus, which are easier to wrap than the very thin ones) and blanch them until just tender (2 to 4 minutes) in a large kettle of boiling water. Immerse the blanched asparagus in ice water to cool them, drain them well, and keep them refrigerated until you are ready to wrap.

To serve, cut very thinly sliced prosciutto into thirds lengthwise and wrap these strips around the stems of the asparagus.

Hot German Potato Salad

Tzena Bell, our Office Manager, says that her mom makes this potato salad. It is hot and hearty, perfect for a cold winter evening.

Ingredients

9 medium potatoes
6 slices bacon
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. celery salt
Dash of pepper
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup cider vinegar or wine vinegar
2 pkg. (12 oz. each) bratwurst (or substitute another mild sausage)

Pare potatoes. In saucepan, heat 1-inch salted water (1/2 teaspoon salt to 1 cup water) to boiling. Add potatoes, cover; cook 30 to 35 minutes or until tender. Drain; set aside. In large skillet, fry bacon until crisp, remove and drain. Cook and stir onion in bacon drippings until golden brown. Blend in flour, sugar, salt, celery seed and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring until bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in water and vinegar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.

Crumble bacon, thinly slice potatoes. Carefully stir bacon and potatoes into hot mixture. Heat through, stirring to coat potatoes.

In skillet, brown and turn sausages. Serve on potato salad. Serves 8-10 as a side dish or part of a buffet, and 6-8 as a light meal.

The recipes continue on the next page...

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