Soup

Arnetta Paulin from Schuylkill Haven, Pa., was looking for a recipe for what she called rivel soup. She said her mother made this soup often when she was growing up in Pennsylvania Dutch country near Hershey. This simple but hearty soup, also sometimes called dough ball soup, was and still is a popular Amish comfort food. The recipe sent in by Bette Considine from Timonium comes from a Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook published in 1966. The word "rivel" means "lump," and this soup is full of lumps that look like rice when cooked.

From the outside, One World Cafe looks like it could be a small coffee joint housed in a one-story addition to a much taller brick building on the cusp of the Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus. In fact, if you walk past the few tables up front and the full service bar, you'll find it has a largish dining room with seating to accommodate, by my rough guesstimate, easily 40 to 50 diners. Its interior is not the only way the cafe offers more than meets the eye. 12:58 We entered very much looking forward to eating in a reliably vegetarian restaurant and specifically not seeking vegetarian renditions of meat-centric recipes — except for a veggie burger.

Sometimes all you want is some steaming soup, a hearty sandwich and an honest cup of coffee. At such times, Charmington's in Remington is just the spot. Situated in the first floor of the old H.F. Miller and Son Tin Box and Can Manufacturing Plant — a building recently converted into Miller's Court apartments and offices — Charmington's is more cafe than restaurant. It bustles with life. Many of the patrons are teachers, as the building offers discounted rents to Baltimore area teachers.

As diners arrived for the last free meal at Carpenter's Kitchen, Caroleann Myers stood by the entrance, hugging regulars with outstretched arms as if she were greeting them into her own home for Christmas dinner. But a ritual that spanned more than two decades was coming to an end. The program that served a hot meal each week at the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church to about 300 of the city's needy was shutting down, despite the efforts of Myers, the program's director.

Linda Ratarsky from Knoxville, Tenn., was looking for the recipe for the tomato dill soup with shrimp that she so enjoyed at Puleo's Grill in Knoxville. Unfortunately, I had no luck getting the specific recipe she wanted, however an Internet search turned up a soup that sounded pretty close to what Ratarsky described. This recipe comes from Oprah.com and was adapted from a recipe from Art Smith's "Kitchen Life" cookbook. I made the simple substitution of fresh dill for the marjoram that was in the original recipe since that was the flavor combination that Ratarsky said she liked so much in the restaurant soup.

When I experience a minor setback in food preparation, I just reflect on the wise words of that culinary mentor, my mother, who — in spite of many kitchen calamities — managed to feed five children on a tight budget for more than two decades. “Darn it all!” she’d say. And then she’d clean everything up and start all over. Eus Ekcirf, whose name has been privacy- protected by backward spelling, endured many a frustrating moment in the kitchen, such as when we kids would slice into the freshly frosted cake meant for her PTA coffee, or when we would hook a saucepan off the burner with the extra-long cord while talking on the “harvest gold” wallmount kitchen telephone.

Potters and soup makers in the Baltimore area have been busy churning out the goods for Empty Bowls events slated for Friday and Saturday nights at the College of Notre Dame in North Baltimore. The potters have been shaping or decorating about 1,800 bowls. These brightly colored vessels will be claimed by folks who hold a $15 ticket to Saturday night's Souper Supper or a $75 ticket to the Friday night Golden Ladle reception. Proceeds from both events go to St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore, a faith-based organization that works to eliminate hunger and homelessness.

More greens. Fewer cherry tomatoes. Those are the plans for the second season of Baltimore's City Hall garden, which produced more than 2,000 pounds of fresh produce last year for Our Daily Bread, the city's largest soup kitchen. "We're catering to what Our Daily Bread is requesting," said Bill Vondrasek, chief horticulturalist for the Department of Recreation and Parks, which helps care for the gardens. "They specifically told us what they will eat more of and what they didn't each much of," he said.