Assortment

It Doesn't Take Long

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, you only have 45 minutes.  Between the this's and that's of the day, you've only got 45.  But, you know? 

That's enough. 

 

 

Enough to take a short drive up the canyon, spread your blanket by the river, let your children and your thoughts run loose, rest your eyes on the loveliest of things, and eat a little something from the backpack (which, you find out, is something a bit too little, as in not enough, as in they're still hungry, as in they're not sure if they can make it home without being overcome by savage hunger pangs along the way, as in pack more next time, Mama!).

 

 

   

 
When it's time to shake out the blanket, stuff it in the backpack, load up the troops, and go barreling down the gravel road toward the rest of the day, you're filled and settled, somehow.  Good thing you came, even if you had only 45. 

Because it doesn't take long.

 

 

 

Peasant Food: Black Beans & Rice

 

 

Food. It nourishes.  

It nourishes when you gather to share a meal together with those you love.

Yet, even before that, when you are alone in your kitchen, in the preparing, there is nourishment.

Nourishment to your heart that is aching over a great and terrible loss. 

As your mind is holding questions, your hands are holding something wholesome, tangible, good.  Something that represents a filling of an empty place.  And it ministers to your soul.

As you prepare, you hear singing.  Your own voice singing songs in a quiet way, and as you listen, you hear the words and know that they have been brought to the surface for such a time as this.

The table is set; the food prepared.

Nourishment comes. 

 

 

 

 

Black Beans & Rice

adapted from Molly's original

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 cup salsa

2 15 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 -2 tablespoons olive oil

6 servings hot, cooked rice (I prefer Jasmine or Basmati)

 

In a 10" skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent but not completely limp, about 10 minutes.  Add cumin and oregano, cook for one minute more. Add black beans, salsa, and salt.  Stir to combine and heat through, about 5 minutes more.  Serve over a bed of hot, cooked rice with a dollop of sour cream on top.

 

Indian Summer

 

 

Because the boat hadn't been wet all summer.

 

 

Because some boys we know hadn't knee-boarded all summer, either. (Kinda hard to knee-board behind the raft).

 

 

Because the high was 85 degrees.

 

 

I repeat:  The high was eighty-five degrees!!

 

 

And it's the end of September!  And we live in Wyoming!  [She mouths again, with eyebrows raised, 'eighty-five degrees!']

 

 

Because we like to see this man in his familiar spot, sitting on the gunwale, port side, with tiller in hand. 

 

 

Because it's Indian Summer!  That's all the reason we needed on a weekend day!