By Jean Blish Siers *
Two conversations on Monday left me deeply troubled by our country’s priorities. First, a woman from Communities in Schools called. She serves one of the largest (and more affluent) high schools in Charlotte. But CIS works with those students who have fallen in some way through the social safety net. She had a student with diabetes and other chronic health issues. The ...
By Jean Blish Siers *
While I don’t watch much television and have never seen his various shows, I was deeply saddened to read of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s suicide last week at age 61. He was a towering food icon who touched many of us, whether we were TV fans or not.
Reading about Bourdain a couple years led me to Xi’an Famous Foods in New York City. Bourdain’s attention to this small, ...
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Deborah Hunter loves cooking, loves life, and loves people. She shares these passions, along with her recipes and personal stories, in her new book, “My Delicious Mississippi Life,” released in June. Hunter also loves feeding hungry people by volunteering with SoSA, and some of the profits of her book are designated to support the feeding ministries of the Society of St. Andrew.
SoSA is just one element in the whirlwind ...
Continue Reading →By Jean Blish Siers *
I eat some pretty weird stuff. I’m not talking about those reality TV shows where people eat bugs dipped in Sriracha sauce. I’m talking about cleaning out the refrigerator to make sure food doesn’t go to waste. My mother, who lived through the Depression and World War II, was a genius at that, and I’m grateful that she passed the skills down to me.
For me, lunch might be a ...
Continue Reading →By Jean Blish Siers *
I bought rhubarb at Barbee Farms this week. That simple sentence doesn’t really tell you how important that was to me! As a child growing up in Minnesota, I took rhubarb for granted. My father had veritable hedges of rhubarb scattered around the farm and it was one of the first signs of spring, a dependable fresh fruit that we all loved. My mother made cakes and pies and ...
SoSA crop drops are held in parking lots of schools, convention centers, municipalities, and a variety of faith groups. Volunteers come from colleges, civic organizations, scouts, and congregations. Last September, a truckload of potatoes arrived in the parking lot of the Zoroastrian Center of Chicago in nearby Burr Ridge, Illinois. This faith group took on its first crop drop experience in a very big way – and they’re eager to do it ...
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