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12/28/09 - (3)
Vegetable-Soup Afternoon
On a sunny Monday afternoon as harsh as this one, I can hardly think of any activity more stimulating Than preparing an eight-quart pot of vegetable soup, for supper.
Days ago, I supplied my accommodating cabin's larder With all the ingredients requisite for my lengthy stay. But if forgetting tells me so, I can always walk uptown, to Ole's;
After all, it takes only six minutes to get there, Five minutes or so to seek out and pay for what I need, And another six minutes to return, ready to go,
Begin or continue my three-hour vigil in the steamy kitchen, Reveling in the orderly, reasoned process Of creating, from natural foods, savory sustenance —
A ritual I've performed many times before, When passing my days as Lake Nebagamon's neighbor, Reexploring the virtues of an austere existence:
1. Score and dice, with a honed paring knife, One medium onion. 2. Separate a head of garlic, into its dozen or so cloves,
Cut off their ends, and peel away their papery skin, Then mince into the tiniest, finest bits. 3. Peel and thinly slice eight to ten carrots. 4. Next, sauté the garlic and onions, in olive oil. 5. Pour in sixty-four ounces of chicken broth, Before adding carrots, letting them simmer till al dente.
(Realizing I'm missing the color and texture Of cut green beans, I race to Ole's and back, in less than eighteen minutes.)
6. Add two cans of beans; let pot simmer ten minutes. 7. Mix in half a box of acini di pepe pasta, Which will cook quickly; stir to keep from sticking.
Now, it's almost nine. I've dined on two bowls of robust vegetable soup, Italian bread, Toasted, with red wine, the ice, snow, ten-above-zero cold,
And it's time for me to say good night, go to bed, Filled with praises for another day in which all that mattered Was satisfying my appetite for delicious simplicity.
12/28/09 - (3)
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