20 North Shore Towers Courier n April 2016 Souper Friends “Soup”er Luncheon NST Building #2 resident hands out bowlfuls of homemade hospitality BY STEPHEN VRATTOS I PHOTOS BY LINDA RAPPAPORT “No pitch. No catch. No one’s selling anything. It’s purely social,” Arlene Basner said of her recent “Soup Social” on Monday, March 21. It was the inaugural North Shore Towers gathering of a tradition that’s gone back more than 15 years, when Basner and her husband lived in Woodmere. The idea to gather friends to join in a bowlful of soup came to Basner when she noticed that she and her neighbors never saw one another much during the chilly months of winter. What better way to stay in touch and foment good will than kibitzing over a comfy bowl of hearty soup? It wasn’t long after Basner and her husband moved into North Shore Towers that her sister—already a longtime resident— asked her when she was going to start up the legendary tradition again. This year’s was the first at NST. She begins each soup social with champagne; then serves a succession of five soups, separating each with a light appetizer “to cleanse the palate,” she said with a laugh. A dessert table is set out for the finale. Basner makes all the soups from scratch and is continually experimenting with new recipes. She admits to never serving the “flops” and has a few tried-and-true bowls, including a roasted butternut squash with roasted apple and Tuscan tomato soup with a crostini and a dollop of sour cream. Both of these were featured in this premiere event, which included Arlene Basner at your service Mother’s Mushroom s o u p — w h i c h came from Martha Stewart—a seafood and corn chowder, a new creation, the recipe for which she found online: she ended the soup medley with a chestnut bisque. “It won’t be the last,” Basner assured of the gathering, which proved tremendously successful, though some might blanch at the amount of work involved. “I love to cook; I love to bake… New York’s #1 Personal Use Van Sales NOW in QUEENS! Wheelchair Accessible Van Sales, Service & Rentals These Wheels Give Me Independence! (855) 982-8939 www.BussaniMobility.com Bethpage • Smithtown • Mamaroneck • Long Island City Me If You Can Dream It, We Can Get You There CALL TODAY FOR SPECIAL DEALS w e g e t y o u t h e r e Martin Ragusa Video Technician/Consultant NORTH SHORE TOWERS 272-59 Grand Central Pkwy. Floral Park, N.Y. 11005 Tel. 516-328-2113 • 718-279-4595 Fax. 718-279-4597 • Email. pmprod@optonline.net TOP DOLLAR PAID FOR ANY CAR! ALL CARS FOREIGN • DOMESTIC • COLLECTIBLE CALL-KEITH SHELDON DISCOUNTED NEW & PRE-OWNED FOR SALE 718-423-8585 • 516-880-5047 HOME CELL RESIDENT OF NORTH SHORE TOWERS 34 YEARS
NST042016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above