You Just Gotta Keep on Livin', Man. L-I-V-I-N

Clearly this is not going to be a daily blog and I say this for two reasons. One, I feel lazy most weekdays. I come home from work and either crash on the couch from exhaustion or boredom from pushing papers around all day. And two, I just don’t think my daily life is all that interesting.

Let’s face it the reality is that we spend most of our day doing monotonous tasks over and over again. We look for those moments that break up the day or jolt us back to life. I’m not one to create drama or fictionalize my life. So with that said, I’m going to call this a “once-in-a-while when I have something to say or when I cook something amazing in my kitchen” blog. 

Yesterday I cheated on my vegetarian diet and ate some amazing, spicy chicken dip a friend from work made. It looked too good to pass up and I had already cheated before with scallops, so I went for it. This is hard to admit, but it hit the spot, especially paired with salty Tostito chips. The chicken was slowly cooked in a crockpot and the shredded pieces were melt in your mouth tender. 

So, I figure I will stick with my vegetarian diet and cheat occasionally when I come across a dish of seafood or chicken that catches my eye. I’m a foodie so it will have to be prepared by someone who really cares about what they’re cooking. There’s nothing worse than a dry piece of meat or an overcooked scallop drowning in a sauce that’s trying to cover up the fact that the chef did not take the time to cook it properly. 

By dinner time Friday night I wanted to go back to my vegetarian ways so I didn’t confuse my stomach, so I ordered one large margarita and a vegetarian entrée with my friend D at my favorite Mexican watering hole. I sprang for the side of refried beans and Mexican rice. Between the tomatillo sauce and the large margarita, the Mexican music playing over the loudspeaker started to jolt me back to life. D and I showed off our Mexican dancing moves despite the crowded room of strangers. 

After a very late night of Mexican fare and a late night showing of Dazed and Confused, I crashed in my bed and slept until noon. 

Saturdays are always slow going. Katie (my sister) and I started our Saturday food trip around 4pm. We hit up a few grocery stores, Market Basket for the cheaper items and Whole Foods for the more expensive food items we cannot live without. By the time we returned home it was 8:30pm, so I quickly set to work on dinner. 

I’ve said it before but today it was really true. I am spoiled by new cookbook. Tonight I planned to make one of Katie’s favorites, Greens and Beans Soup. The recipe calls for 5 to 6 cups of vegetable broth and I used to do the bouillon cube dissolved in boiled water method. Since learning how to make a homemade veggie broth, I couldn’t use the substitute. It took an extra hour and a half, finally eating at 11pm but it really elevated the dish. 

When I read Marcus Samuelsson’s memoir I learned how important it was to build the flavor in every step of a dish. To cook an amazing meal you have to know how to prepare each ingredient, no matter how insignificant you might think it is to the recipe. The memoir, like the man himself, had taught me to care about food again. The dish in front of me wasn’t just a mélange of ingredients in a bowl, but an opportunity to build flavor and enhance the dish, to bring it to the next level.

I started with extracting the flavor profiles from a bunch of vegetables and herbs and sifted them out of the velvety liquid. 

With the veggie broth squared away, I got going on the soup by sweating the onions and garlic in olive oil. I love the smell of them slowly cooking, it makes your mouth water.

Next I added the greens and beans. For the greens part I used Kale and Spinach and for the beans, red kidney and cannellini beans. Growing up my mum didn’t use Kale in her cooking. Her meals were efficient and economical. With three kids, a husband, and a full schedule at college, dinner was another task on a very long list of things to do. It wasn’t until I started devouring cookbooks as a hobby that I came across this interesting, hearty green. 

I poured in the veggie broth and added marjoram to bring out the flavor of the vegetables and red pepper flakes for that little hint of spice. 

After it came to a boil, I let it simmer for a while, allowing the greens and beans to slowly become tender. The result was better than the original recipe. 

The velvety texture of the veggie broth, the hint of spice that hits the back of your throat, warms you from the inside out. Those greens and beans are filling so you’re not looking for a heavy dinner roll to leave your stomach satisfied. That garlicky onion flavor can be tasted throughout the spoonful and makes your mouth water for more.

Tomorrow I start the Couch to 5K program, but I learned of another obstacle in my way to running three miles, triple E. As if I needed another reason to hate mosquitoes, my town is swarming with those disease infested gnats until the first frost. I’m thinking of throwing caution to the wind, dousing myself with mosquito repellant, turning up the volume on my ipod workout mix, and setting sneakers to pavement anyway. 

At least the adrenaline will be the rush I need to jump start my day and break up the monotony of paperwork. 

Sarah Jenkins