I don’t know that I’ve ever read an actual self-help book. Or I should say, I’ve never read a traditional self-help book. If I need a little encouragement, it’s best to just head to the library and check out one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks. He’s so upbeat and he affirms what a big deal it is to actually get a meal –or three- on the table and into lunchboxes, which is what I spend the majority of my time doing. “The family dinner, so great! If you serve soup as a main course when your friends come over, what a treat for them! They will love it! Serve salad from a cutting board- you’re the coolest! Give your kids salad in their school lunches, splendid! Call a sandwich a sarnie!”
I never make any of the recipes, just read through the cookbooks. Until today-
When I was making a grocery list last weekend, I briefly though, why did I decide to make this? Does it seem like a good idea to buy chorizo, prosciutto, and “high quality” chickpeas for a soup that involves grated hard boiled eggs? As I cooked today, all the reasons to make Scrumptious Spanish Chickpea and Chorizo Soup came floating to the surface.
When I was 15, I went on a mission trip to San Antonio and helped put on a vacation bible school. The kids taught us their version of Duck, Duck, Goose, which was Huevos, Huevos, Chroizo! The Chorizo! needs to be said with great enthusiasm. Eggs + chorizo, subliminal push #1 to cook the soup. Good memories.
Reason #2 is the use of the word “scrumptious”. It’s my favorite word because it’s doesn’t sound at all like it should mean delicious, and yet, doesn’t it? According to my abridged OED, the origin of the word is unknown. Fabulous.
(Kind of a bummer that our best climbing tree is a leggy crepe myrtle.)
#3- The Birdcage- Agador Spartacus’s Sweet and Sour Peasant Soup One of the top ten scenes in any movie, ever.
A few months ago my neighbor gave Trent a bouquet of flowers and told him to give them to me. She’s the mother of three adult sons and she later told me that she really needed encouragement when her kids were little. The flowers/conversation happened last fall when, coincidentally, our windows were open a lot. *I think she heard me yelling.*
On beautiful January spring days, we spend all our free time outside and keep the windows open, so the neighbors are hearing a little too much of IF YOU DON’T STOP THAT YOU WILL MAKE ME GO INSANE! So yeah, I do need encouragement sometimes. It’s nice to have someone say, great job, everyone was loved and fed today. Ultimately it was time to make a recipe as a personal thank you to Jamie Oliver and his oddly therapeutic cookbooks because I can’t call my mom or knock on a neighbor’s door every time I need a little boost. Thanks for the soup recipe; it was scrumptious.
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