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WEDNESDAY February 11, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels January 30, 2004 Downtown Behold the power of soup Andrew Scot Bolsinger Seinfeld's soup nazi has nothing on the women of Generations. Both in flavor, and intensity, these soupmakers were also the stuff of legends. Thankfully, none told me, "no soup for you!" Instead they invited me, along with Mayor Alan DeBoer and Mountain Meadows owner Madeline Hill and resident Dorothy Moore, to judge the Community Soup Contest. "They" are the creators of the 11 entries in the soup contest. "They" are also the women who work in Generations assisted living facilities throughout the region. While "they" each make a mean soup, "they" also do important work in caring for people who really need the care. Which is how the whole soup contest idea got rolling in the first place. "We do anything to give [the residents] things to do," Generations Marketing Director Cheryl Wheeler said. A competitive group Apparently there is a lot riding on this contest, I quickly discovered. Kristin Sullivan, administrator for Skylark Place, set the rules and thwarted the attempts of the ladies to unfairly tout their soups. "You can't tell who made each soup," she said emphatically. Suddenly I was aware that bribes were going to be much harder. We tasted several vegetable soups, a lentil soup, a fish soup, some potato soups, a bacon soup, a Mexican soup and some kind of red soup that looked like sweet and sour pineapple (it was surprisingly good, though I still have no idea what it was). The ladies watched our every move, often chiding us to reveal what we liked best. Mr. Mayor and Mrs. Hill refused to give anything away, so I worked hard to keep my poker face. "What does the raised eyebrow mean?" Christina Wheeler, daughter of Cheryl and also a Generations employee asked me. I work harder to keep my so-called cards close to the so-called vest. At one point, I looked over my shoulder and noticed that Maria Lee, chef of the Mexican soup, is peering at my notes. This is one tough crowd, I thought as I covered my notes and scribbled a bit more messily. Moore was a bit more forthcoming with her preferences, to the delight of the crowd. When pressed about which soup she liked best, she said simply, "Anything I can eat." A second resident was brought in to be her co-judge and sample the soups she is allergic to. When Sullivan booted the chefs from the room so we could make our choices, a collective groan rose in protest. And the winners ... After finishing the tasting, we judges we had to decide how to pick the winner. "Well, I have my top three," DeBoer announces jokingly, "so you should go along. It never works for council to say that, so I thought maybe it would work here." But we were just as resistant as the city councilors. Hill took charge and gave a point total to each of our preferences, finding that the bacon soup took first place, followed closely by the Mexican soup. After the ladies were brought back in the room, the winners were announced and given prizes. A cheer as loud as any at a football game echoed through the room with each announcement. As I mentioned, these folks take soup pretty seriously. Or maybe it wasn't just the soup, but just the chance to take a break from the tasks of each day. The needs of people are all around them, needs they take very seriously. So the chance to have some fun, with little more than a few pots of soup, is pretty important. By all accounts, the contest was a roaring success. "It was so much fun," Lee said. "I haven't seen so much laughter in a long time." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: A new improved archive search is coming! Look for it in mid-February! .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams