A Clutch of Chicks: Warming Hearts and Souls

Nancy F, Terri, Ann

It wasn't a gaggle of geese, an exaltation of larks, or a murder of crows. No...it was a clutch of chicks I'd invited to fly to Arden yesterday from Chewelah, Colville and Kettle Falls to celebrate Chicken Soup for the Soul's new line of food products and old line of heartwarming books. I greeted guests in my new Chicken Soup apron, with its caption, "Food is like life; it doesn't mind if you throw in a little spice."

Not all of the women were acquainted. I'd assembled my guest list from members of both my Colville Library and Chewelah book groups, and AAUW. I invited actress/director Woodland Theatre maven extraordinare Nancy Christopher, plus actress/reporter Sophia Aldous, soon to star in Woodland's Barefoot in the Park.

My menu, based on the products Chicken Soup had sent me, included soup with sour cream/onion toppings, turkey meatballs in tomato basil sauce, chicken thighs simmered in sesame ginger sauce, rice pilaf, a green salad with Caesar dressing, herb bread and a carrot cake, baked by Jane Conn.

Although the new products are rolling out throughout the country, they are not yet available here in Northeast Washington. They're so good that I know I'll be trying the other pasta and meal-builder sauces when they hit West Coast stores. Here's the link to product descriptions, recipes and comfort food sweepstakes...if you win, you, too, can roost a while with a clutch of chicks: http://www.chickensoup.com/foods/

So what did we do besides eat, eat, and eat some more? Though males were not invited to our "chicks only" party, we toasted them with glasses of Rex Goliath wine, in honor of the 47-lb. rooster. Nancy Christopher lead us in an icebreaking exercise to help us remember each other's names. We talked about Libraries of Stevens County Lid Lift. Nancy Folkestad sold raffle tickets for a quilt for Friends of the Kettle Falls Library fundraiser. We discussed my upcoming move to Southern California and the wonderful senior living complex I'm heading toward.

Though I'd initially planned to seat six at the dining room table and four at the living room game table, the women couldn't bear to be separated. While I drained the pasta, they pulled the tall game chairs right into the dining room. So some towered above the rest of us, balancing plates precariously on their knees. What a clutch of chicks we were, chattering away the Sunday afternoon.

As each friend left, I presented her with her choice of the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul books containing my stories, Reboot Your Life and Touched by an Angel. You can order these from Amazon now!

 

Nancy C, Jane, Rusanne, Nancy F

Ann, Linda, Maggie, Nancy F

Nancy C, Ann, Sophia, Nancy F