Offering Comfort
Our community is hurting. The shooting and tragic deaths of three UVA students has shaken our community and this week has been one full of fear, grief, horror and hurt.
Today’s newsletter was going to be about the big meal next week and, even though I look forward to gathering with family and creating memories, in light of the tragedy that has rocked us all, I want to pause and reflect on where we draw strength from when faced with such atrocities.
I recently finished Save Me the Plums, by Ruth Reichl. The memoir chronicles her time as editor of Gourmet magazine, including during the September 11th terrorist attacks. What stayed with me after reading the book was her description of that terrible time. The day after the attacks, she sent a company-wide email saying, The magazine is closed until further notice. But our kitchens are standing idle. . . . This is not a command performance, but I’m going to 4 Times Square to cook for the workers at Ground Zero, and you’re welcome to join me. Buy some groceries and meet me in the morning. It may not be much, but it’s what we can do. She and her coworkers went out and bought groceries, prepared chili, cornbread and soup in their test kitchens and then hand-delivered it to first responders. In the midst of that horror they offered a small comfort: food.
As a firefighter ate a bowl of chili, he told Reichl, thank you for this taste of home. The chili is now a Thanksgiving staple in her family as a way of remembering all those who lost their lives that day and all those who came running toward that horror to help.
***
Once the shelter-in-place order in Charlottesville was lifted on Monday, small business owners took to social media saying, we’re here. If you need a place to gather, if you can’t sit alone in this sorrow, we will provide the space and help hold your grief. Restaurants said, we have hot food, we have seats. As students and community members started to leave flowers at Beta Bridge, florists and flower farms from as far away as Richmond donated bouquets. College teams across the country have donned the numbers of the three young men whose lives were taken. My sister-in-law baked a hundred chocolate-chip cookies for the UVA football team’s weekly family meal.
***
Often it is the small comforts that buoy us through unimaginable times. It’s why we bake casseroles when a friend has lost a loved one, send letters and poems, deliver flowers, make ourselves a bowl of soup. These acts of love and beauty in the face of tragedy are acts resistance, and you never know just how great an impact they might have. This past week has shown us how strong our community is, how much love and support we have to offer one another. That we are stronger, together.
WHAT WE’RE COOKING
COMFORTING CARROT SOUP (serves 4)
This recipe was a favorite of mine in college. It’s inexpensive, easy and shareable. My roommates and I spent many evenings enjoying this soup and over the years I have continued to make variations of it. If you prefer a one-pot version, you don’t need to roast the carrots, but I prefer the flavor. You can use water in place of broth and it doesn’t require a topping, though I love the texture that croutons, toasted pepitas or crumbled pecans lend to this dish.
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 2” batons
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and chopped into 1” cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 cups broth or water
2 tablespoons celery or parsley leaves, chopped
Salt and black pepper to taste
Olive oil for serving
Optional: toasted pepitas, toasted & chopped pecans or croutons for serving
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400℉. Toss carrots in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place on a lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and roast until tender when pierced with a fork, about 30 minutes. While carrots are roasting, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add potato, garlic and 5 cups of broth. Bring soup to a boil and reduce heat, simmering while carrots continue to roast. Once carrots are tender, remove from oven and add them to the soup, simmering for another 15 minutes until the flavors have melded and the potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Puree soup with an immersion blender until smooth, adding the remaining cup of broth in ¼ cup increments until you reach your desired consistency. Ladle soup into bowls and top with chopped celery or parsley leaves and any other desired toppings. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and enjoy.
POEM OF THE WEEK
Our poem of the week is a favorite of mine. A copy of it has hung in my house for well over a decade and it continues to provide me with comfort and strength. I hope it may do the same for you.
Sunset by Rainer Maria Rilke, translation by Robert Bly Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors which it passes to a row of ancient trees. You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you one part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth. leaving you, not really belonging to either, not so hopelessly dark as that house that is silent, not so unswervingly given to the eternal as that thing that turns to a star each night and climbs-- leaving you (it is impossible to untangle the threads) your own life, timid and standing high and growing, so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out, one moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star.
This weekend, my wish for us all is to seek the small comforts, to extend kindness toward one another, to gather together and share a hot meal or conversation. Take care and thank you for reading.
Eat Well,
Lisa