zupa! und pollo!

Well, this doesn't really count as soup. :) But when I could do nothing but cough, it tasted good! I know, I can't believe I buy it...I really only have it about twice in a year. Really.

I'm still coughing, but at least I can eat now. We made homemade pizza today, which was not as good as sometimes due to a new pan that didn't cook the bottom of the dough well enough. Ick. Pasty.
I did get sun therapy, though, taking the leaves off of the garden so that in the next couple of weeks we can plant! It's hard to believe it that time already.

The soup I made the night before tasted better than the Lipton. Bratwurst, potatoes, onions, and some greens, with chicken stock. Mmm.

And this tasted even better, a few days before that..a Brinkman go-to in the last several years, easy and comfort foody. Onions and garlic, plus greens (or red peppers) and then whipping cream and Parmesan. Best on noodles - Luke always wants more sauce, but I like it a little thicker and sticking to the pasta.

The New York Times had an article on Jamie Oliver today that included his famous recipe for roasted chicken in milk. Sounds weird! But it includes lemon, sage, garlic, and a little cinnamon, and it comes out crispy with a creamy, thick sauce. We might have to try that this week.

We only have a few nights at home this week. Mark is in New York Monday early to late and Philadelphia Thursday early to late, and we fly to Hilton Head together Friday for a Convene summit. First time for both of us! I'm sure we'll have a food story or two after the weekend....

bon appetit!

Easter table

I've been well fed this past year.

That statement includes food. How could it not! What with so many French bakeries, wonderful pies, pancakes, good drink, and BBQ.

More, it includes the benefits of all the Teall Vincent Brinkman Heling Knox folks who have sat at various tables in varied configurations this past year (and those named Mason and Sonnentag).

It feels like my soul has become plump with family and the delights of living in community, vast and empty spaces having new light shine upon them, previous deserts starting to bloom.

Each week, in worship, I name as many of you as I can in the silent space the pastor provides for us to hold people in God's merciful light. Each week, at the great table, where we kneel to commemorate God's saving gift, I am in tears  for the tangible mercy I have experienced with each of you. I experience it all as part of the same merciful gift.

Sláinte to all of you this Easter.

springtime in seattle

It's here! For the past few days the weather has whipped breathtakingly between blinding sunshine and sudden drenching downpours. Spring spring spring. That means a shift in menu and atmosphere at the restaurant where I work - more lemonades, more salads, more peeeeeople. I'm feeling very ready to make the switch to my new job this summer; for those I haven't told, I will be running the literacy center at an elementary school for the year. It is going to be a bit of an adjustment from free meals at the restaurant to sack lunches in a school cafeteria, however! Thaddaeus is finishing up his last quarter of nursing school with a preceptorship in an OR, but is also interested in psych nursing and other areas, so we'll see where he ends up!

When a friend overslept and missed a breakfast date the other day, I ran Teddy to the dog park and back before combining the only things I could find in our fridge - cucumbers and carrots, strawberries and jogurt, Brie and jam and dense German-style rye bread - to make a breakfast that he was a little envious of.

I lived on some combination of these ingredients for about a week, with the addition of some other fruits and the soft, slow-cooked scrambled eggs beloved by the Teall sisters (which I discovered separately from M.F.K. Fisher).