Menus May 13, 2014

"I try not to let good things go by unnoticed."

Wendell Berry

Me too. Well, I try. The thing is, good things are so plentiful. And some of them go by so fast that noticing them is like trying to memorize the license plates of every other car on a freeway.

quick! did you notice the license number of the blue one?

And some unfortunate fold in the cortex of the human brain makes the not-so-good parts of the day so much easier to notice! There may be a highway full of cars, all pleasant to look at, all driven by polite people who courteously share the road. They will drive by unnoticed. But this car?

This I would notice.

My Mother was fond of saying, after she had discovered in plain sight something that I had been searching for, "if it was a snake it would have bitten you." And so it is with so many good things. They lay low in the metaphorical grass of the day, waiting to be noticed, and sometimes we metaphorically step right over them. Then there are those happier days when you nearly step right on a good thing that's lying in the metaphorical grass, but you notice it just in time, and you call your friends, and you say "Hey, there's this crazy huge amazing thing I just noticed!" 

"Get over here and help before it kills me!"

So when an ordinary Monday turned into a really good day, it was worth noticing. By some benevolent cosmic coincidence, my good friend Katherine and I were able to find an hour when our schedules aligned. That was good thing number one. Katherine knows lots of interesting things, among them, where to find a good many bests. As in, the best latte in the city of Dallas:

the Pearl Cup.
Honest to goodness amazing.
It, and the latte that followed it inside me,
did not go unnoticed.

That was good thing number two. Also good thing number three if you count the second latte. Good thing number four was a wide-ranging conversation that ended up giving me everything I needed to cook up a week of good, fast, uncomplicated dinners, all already kitchen tested by Katherine, who notices when a latte or a recipe (or most anything else)  is really great, and passes the knowledge along:

Wednesday: Gnocchi with Shrimp and Asparagus

This is the recipe that had me scribbling on the back of a receipt- because there's some basil in a pot on the porch which very kindly has been managing to not die. And there's  some asparagus in the fridge that needs using up...Gnocchi's easier to find in supermarkets than it used to be, but if it's not available where you are, I'll just bet this would be great with tortellini. This is a recipe that steps you through making a from-scratch pesto. If you want to make it super wonderful easy, use a jar of pesto- as a bonus, a jar of pesto will cost less than buying basil, pine nuts and Parmesan. 





Thursday:Pasta and Chickpea Soup

Katherine swears that this soup goes together easily, despite the long list of ingredients. If you read the recipe again, you'll see why she's right. The only real prep work is dicing leeks and onions- everything else comes down to opening a can or a bag of frozen vegetables. The jar of pesto that you bought for the gnocchi gets a second round here. (Unless of course you were super industrious and made your own, which would have been so yummy that it's all gone, and now you'll need to run out and buy a jar of pesto. )




Friday: Tilapia Parcels

It's a funny thing when something that was once an exotic luxury becomes commonplace enough to become ordinary. Like television. Or watching movies whenever you want to in your house. Or computers. Or tilapia. (Well, spell check still doesn't recognize it, so at least it has that goin for it.) This is a fun and easy way to cook just about anything- and you can throw any leftover vegetables into tomorrow's salad or Sunday's lasagna.





Saturday: Shrimp Cobb Salad

Look how pretty!!! If you don't want to use shrimp here, consider using sliced chicken breast, or even thin slices of roast beef or ham from the deli. The thing is, no matter what you use for protein, this is going to be a fast delicious dinner for a summer Saturday. 








Sunday:Skillet Lasagna 

Another terrific idea! Craving lasagna but don't want to spend hours in the kitchen on a warm day? Then find a way to make a good thing faster, so you can get on with the slow business of enjoying it. If we have leftover zucchini or any other vegetable, it will probably fall in here, and we might have a salad on the side, or not. If you want to do the dreamy, steamy fresh bread and hot lasagna thing, take three minutes the night before and stir up a loaf of No Knead Bread. Any way you serve it up, lasagna's always a good thing.



I hope that your week is filled with good things, and not just the good things that fill your dinner plates. 
Although I certainly hope for great things on our dinner plates!
I hope this week the good things in your life 
slow down long enough to become visible.
And that you're able to slow down
long enough to notice them. 
I hope that there are people in your life 
who you can count on 
to help you notice the things that are good.
And I hope this week 
you have the power
to hold the good things close
just for a moment,
And give them a quick embrace
and a kiss goodbye
and smile

as they go speeding past.