walking with God

"Walking with God.  It's an invitation to see everything as sacred, to walk through life with reverence and awe, attending to each moment as holy.  Yes, even those moments we call tragic and terrible.  I have found these moments have the greatest capacity for opening me up…in a way I long to open up.  They inspire vulnerability, compassion, empathy, humility, and they require me to fully commit to trusting and loving unconditionally."

 - from Plus One, Finding God on the Yoga Mat by Cori Martinez

the soup nazi

"You can't eat this soup standing up, your knees buckle."

- Jerry, in The Soup Nazi

It is fall and one of the very best things about this time of year to me is soup.  I especially like to make soup on the weekends while my husband watches sports.  I do not watch sports but I do enjoy cooking.    Today's selection is Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Rosemary Lemon Chicken and I do believe the Soup Nazi would approve.  Judging by the clanging sound of Robert's spoon scraping the sides of the bowl, it definitely scored with him.

Soup Nazi Soup

2 raw chicken breasts
nice handful of chopped rosemary
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
one head of cauliflower chopped in big chunks

"You are the only one who understands me."

"You suffer for your soup."

- The Soup Nazi and Kramer

Earlier in the day place salted and peppered raw chicken breasts in a zip bag with rosemary, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Put in fridge to marinate.  If this is just too much suffering for you, you can use a pre-cooked rotisserie bird.

Later in the day, toss chopped cauliflower in olive oil, salt and pepper, and place on baking sheet and then into preheated 400 degree oven for an hour or so.  Let it get toasty and brown and crunchy - trust  me, it tastes better this way.  Set aside.

olive oil

chopped leeks

1 tsp. minced garlic

one smallish red skin potato chopped with peel

chicken broth

salt and pepper

And finally, into a soup pot put olive oil, leeks, salt and pepper.  Cook till done, then turn heat to low and add garlic.  Next add chicken broth, chopped potato, and roasted cauliflower - increase heat.  As the soup simmers, take the chicken out of marinade and sear on both sides in a hot skillet.  Then place the partially cooked chicken in a 375 degree pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

When potatoes are done, use a hand held emulsion blender to puree the mixture.  I blended most of mine and left some of it chunky as well.

"So, essentially, you chose soup over a woman?"

"It was a bisque."

- Elaine and Jerry

Ladle the soup into bowls and add chopped chicken.  Blending the ingredients yields a lovely indulgent quality to this endeavor, that quite frankly is... irresistible.

"Shhh!  I gotta focus.  I'm shifting into soup mode."

- George

Bon appétit, shmoopy...

habit and practice makes stew

"You take command in the kitchen."
 - spoken to me by Phyllis Theroux - author, teacher, and light collector extraordinaire


I 've learned a few things from being sick a lot.  One of them is the fact that when I can do nothing else - I can cook. This didn't happen overnight.  It came to evolve over time as various indistinct maladies invaded and assaulted my body and took up residence, and I came to understand the word - chronic. Another thing I've discovered from persistent  ailing is that real food cooked in simple ways is very often good for it.  Now here's something surprising I found out by being both sick and cooking - the secret to taking command in the kitchen is merely habit and practice, with a side of necessity and a dollop of awareness.  When something really matters to you and it makes a difference in your life - don't you find that you can somehow make the effort?

so...

Once upon a time on a Friday night at home and alone, with nary another soul's taste buds to assuage but my very own - I made sweet potato and lentil stew.  I found lots of different recipes on the internet with many variations on this theme.  There was one from Martha Stewart with sausage and sage and another version with bacon.  Both sounded delish, but I decided on this particular one from Daphne Oz with a few changes - I added fresh ginger, replaced most of the water with veggie broth, and sweetened it with a little maple syrup.  The recipe made an enormous pot of goodness, so I ate from the immediate results and froze the rest.  I think it would be a good move to take it out of the freezer later and then add the cooked sausage or bacon that the other recipes called for. The lentils provide about 11 grams of protein per 1/4 cup serving and I sprinkled hemp seed over mine to boost that.

Here's what I did:

Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew

Olive oil

1 chopped red onion

3 or 4 chopped carrots

2 chopped celery stalks
1 1/2 t. minced garlic
2 t. cumin
1 t. coriander
1/2 t. turmeric
big chunk of fresh ginger - peeled and finely grated
2 c. rinsed lentils
4 c. veggie broth
2 c. water
1 sweet potato - peeled and chopped
1 bunch kale - remove hard center stems and rough chop leaves, I used purple
salt and pepper
drizzle of maple syrup
cilantro to scatter on top

To large soup pot, add olive oil and onion - salt and pepper and cook a couple of minutes.  Next add carrots and celery - salt and pepper and cook some more.  Turn down heat - add garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and ginger...then add the lentils.  Add the broth and water and turn up heat to a nice bubbly simmer.  Throw in the chopped sweet potato and kale, add more salt and a good drizzle of maple syrup.

Do not cover the pot - I hear this makes the lentils mushy.  I watched my pot and had to add more water as the stew cooked and the lentils needed it - around 45 minutes or so.  If you like your kale with some bite left in it - wait until the lentils have cooked till almost done and then add it later near the end of the simmering process.

The secret to a really flavorful  rich stew or soup is to season each layer as you go.  You cannot salt and pepper at the end and get the same results.

Now, I have to talk about the sensory experience of cooking with all these vibrant colors - a red onion, orange carrots and sweet potatoes, purple kale, and green cilantro - then there's the exotic aroma of the spices of cumin, coriander, and turmeric (anti-inflammatory)...what pleases the eye and nose, will surely please the taste buds as well.  Nutritionally and medicinally, the value of this dish astounds - doing  the body infinite amounts of good!  There is something creatively rewarding with cooking and it doesn't have to be fancy or difficult.  Cooking takes me out of myself.  All that peeling and chopping and combining fresh ingredients provides such unhurried expectation...and if you make it a habit and a practice, it becomes less of a task and more of a labor of love, I think.  I guess if you cook and create from the heart - what you make will satisfy your soul...anyway, most of the time I find this to be true.  Sprinkle all endeavors with a certain sense of curiosity and adventure and there's no telling what you may come up with...

That's it - the next day, Friday night's lentils became Saturday's leisurely lunch.  I reheated the leftovers, chopped up an adequately ripe avocado and tossed it on top.  This stew is so satisfying and filling - and even better the following day.


I've been struggling with my blog lately and life in general - looking for something that will lend both shape and direction.  And then I thought of what Phyllis said in that observant way she has as a writer and a teacher - who sees the best in others and generously and kindly offers life-giving input.  I decided to attempt to look through the light today and write about what I know and what is constant in my life.  Cooking is something that I can do and that I must do everyday. Why even now as I sign off, I'm thinking of tender crab cakes for dinner and rainbow chard on the side with leeks and  tiny sweet peppers of red, yellow, and orange...


and if you haven't yet discovered and read The Journal Keeper by Phyllis Theroux - you simply must.

Consider it dessert!

growing light

"The life above, when this is past,

Is the ripe fruit of life below.

Sow love, and taste it's fruitage pure;

Sow peace, and reap it's harvest bright;

Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor,

And find a harvest-home of light."

- Horatius Bonar

pilgrims' progress

"Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone is the same, and also unique;  and that this was the dilemma of being human."

Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Yesterday Robert and I returned from a trip to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina.  The drive takes about seven hours each way and is the perfect opportunity for an audio book.  I had selected our entertainment carefully in the weeks before, going on Amazon to not only read reviews, but to listen to samples as well.  A great audio book is only as great as its reader.  When I heard the English actor, Jim Broadbent's voice, I knew I had a winner - I was captivated!  Now anything spoken with a British accent sounds better, doesn't it?   Try it..."Oh blimey, where is my mobile (that's mo-bile with a long i, as in cell phone)?"  Or... "Have you seen my trainers (sneakers), love?"  Don't even get me started about the loo...  Gosh, I think I could listen to it all day and that comes in handy when you plan to do just that.  

And then there is the consideration that my husband doesn't read...he can read, but he doesn't like to.  He loves music - not musicals, New York - not Broadway, eggs - not quiche, broccoli - not brussel  sprouts, funny movies - not silly movies, and stories - NOT books -  just to keep it all straight.

So...was it likely that Robert would listen and love a tender and thoughtful tale about a retired man who one morning walked down his driveway to mail a letter...and just kept walking...in his shirt and tie and yachting shoes - forgetting his mobile phone?

What would he make of all the characters Harold Fry would encounter along the way - of some six hundred miles?  Would the whimsical-sounding destination of Berwick-upon-Tweed compel and intrigue him as it did me?   Would  the story bore him to distraction and put him to sleep, or draw him in close and make him think?

I did not know.

The road stretched before us and then something wonderful happened.  Time began to melt, along with our hearts as we joined Harold on his journey.  We came to know him and his wife Maureen, their son David, their neighbor Rex, a girl in a garage, and a woman in a hospice - Queenie Hennessy.  The miles sped by and we seldom stopped, reluctant to take leave of our hero and his story for too long.  As Harold kept going, so did we.  And as we sojourned, this pilgrim helped us remember that genuine kindness is a quality that we both would like to show others, especially those who seem strange to us, especially when it may seem strange to us.  We remembered humility, empathy, courage, gratitude, forgiveness, atonement, and acceptance.  We remembered what we must never forget, those healing words that  are the hardest and most necessary for human beings to know and utter - "I was wrong."  We remembered love.

As the audio ended we knew we would miss Harold but were content with the way his bittersweet and unlikely pilgrimage concluded.  And though the book found its ending, it seemed that Harold's life held the promise of a new beginning.

It is completely likely we will find another book and another journey someday and will fondly recall this unlikely and endearing one.

"If I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, it stands to reason that I'm going to get there."
 - Harold Fry 

dinner and a sunset!

"Just speak very loudly and quickly, and state your position with utter conviction, as the French do, and you'll have a marvelous time!"

- Julia Child

Chicken, broccoli, and mushrooms! I typed into a google search and this is what popped out - straight from the New York Times!


Broccoli Stir-Fry with Chicken and Mushrooms on Jasmine Rice!

makes 4 servings

2 T. olive oil
2 T. minced garlic
1 T. minced fresh ginger
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound broccoli, cut into small bite-size pieces
8 oz. chopped mushrooms
1 cup coconut milk - Trader Joe's is the one I use!
8 oz. boneless chicken breasts, cut into small bit-size pieces
2 T. coconut aminos - a wonderful alternative to soy sauce!
freshly ground salt and pepper

Put half the oil in a large non-stick pan and add onions and a little salt and pepper!  Saute' awhile, turn down heat and add half the garlic and ginger!  Stir for a few seconds!  Next add broccoli and mushrooms and a little salt and pepper - cook for 3 minutes, then add coconut milk!  Simmer a couple of minutes!  Pour this mixture into a dish and set aside!  Wipe out pan, add the remainder of the olive oil, garlic, and ginger - cook a few seconds on low heat, then add chicken!  Turn up heat and cook  chicken till the pink is gone!  Pour broccoli, onion, mushroom mixture back into pan with chicken!  Add coconut aminos and let simmer a couple of minutes!  Serve on a bed of rice!  Ahhhhhhhhh!

This is sooooooooooooooooooooooo tasty, satisfying, and of course - good for you!  Bon Appetit!

Ride into the sunset!



  

madame bovary

"Her journey to Vaubyessard had made a hole in her life...She devoutly put away in her drawers her beautiful dress, down to the satin shoes whose soles were yellowed with the slippery wax of the dancing floor.  Her heart was like these.  In its friction against wealth something had come over it that could not be affected."
  Gustave Flaubert

In its day, the classic novel, Madame Bovary was considered quite obscene.  The book and its author were even hauled  into court, though later acquitted.  In 1856 to write about adultery in such a way, or probably in any way was outrageous.  I picked it up a couple of weeks ago after listening to Pat Conroy speak of it in his own work, My Reading Life.  I'm glad I did.  

In the passage above, following the night of a ball Emma Bovary attends, Flaubert weaves a rich tapestry of carefully textured words that foreshadow the tale he is about to tell.  When I read it I remembered when I was a girl, and believed that circumstances, people, and possessions outside the scope of what was familiar and available to my life could make me happy - could make me enough.  It was hard for me to learn differently.  As I watched Emma "devoutly" put away her beautiful dress and slippers and resign herself to her perceived less-than life,  I suspected this girl was in deep trouble - that she would have a hard time of it...

In 1856, I suppose people were afraid that a book like this would encourage bad behaving, but that would only make this story a trashy read, and great tragedies seldom are - and what of our own stories?  How could  Emma know that the hole in her life was there long before the trip to Vaubyessard?  How could she fathom that her envious heart would soon be filled with contempt, and even disregard for her own child as she sought solace and understanding in the arms of another lover?  How could she live such a life of delusion and deceive herself about what surely lay ahead?

I wondered about some things as I read this book...like... how old was Emma Bovary when she married, and why didn't the author provide friendships with other women for her  inside the story - was it because he was male and failed to understand the importance of these kinds of relationships?  I wondered if friendship could have saved her...

 I love this about reading and about books.  I am continually intrigued by the tap on my shoulder when the writer's words find their place deep in my being or send my mind down trails of inquiry.  I value the truth that sometimes feels uncomfortable, comes at me sideways, and stays long after the last page is turned.  Lately I have longed to read all the classics I missed in the first part of my life.  It's quite interesting to read a story that you've only heard about, and form your own opinions.  As I spent time with this book, I asked myself - what makes a classic endure?  Perhaps it is the response from readers to writing that so masterfully evokes and appeals to themes that are  common and timeless in all human beings - to me, Madame Bovary is that.