Friends
We haven’t talked in a while, but it is February. In my mind, the month has always been called Melancholia. I inevitably experience a lack of motivation and general emotional ennui. I sense it in others as well.
People seem to walk with their shoulders hunched as they realize that winter is entrenched, and the weight of that knowledge is heavy. People smile less, and all the layers they wear in the short trek from the car to the grocery must add to their low mood.
Our street is popular with dog walkers, whose pace in their late afternoon foray is now a bit quicker. A few walk with the leash trailing behind them, as they are moving faster than their hounds. Their body language says, “Just get it over with so we can get back inside.”
Occasionally, like today, we woke to brilliant sunshine. I tossed open the door to feel it on my face, just a blast of 23-degree air hit me, and I had to grab onto the porch banister to steady myself due to the ice that formed overnight. The charcoal grey snow on the side of the road and the two new potholes on the corner reminded me that the sunshine was just a tease.
Afternoons at the gym, and a good sweat in the sauna get the endorphins flowing, but the walk back to the car is always a reality check. I hear conversations in the locker room about someone’s week in Fort Meyers or five days at an all-inclusive resort in the Bahamas. I can only imagine their shock of reentry. I could not handle leaving this weather Purgatory and then, in so short a time, having to come right back. It reminds me of the scene in Dante’s Inferno where a few of the damned are allowed to put their feet up out of holes to cool for an allotted time based on their sins. Then the bell rings, and back down they go. A six-day reprieve is not enough for my fellow gym mates or those poor bastards in the ring of hell.
Our consolation is that February is a short month, but to add insult to injury, we get to add an extra day this year. I will get through it as I have always done, as will all of you. We tell those who do not live in New England, that suffering the winters here makes our euphoria so much greater when we see the first crocus, tulips, and hyacinths escaping from the snow on the south slide of our homes.
It may be true in fact that we appreciate the beauty when it returns more deeply given our lack of it for three months. I pity those who are sentenced to live in Pacific Grove, California, or anywhere in Hawaii where perfection is the norm year-round. Would we here in NH think it boring? I am sure many of you readers find beauty in the majestic vistas of the White Mountains in snow cover, but as a purely urban creature, that is beyond my realm of understanding.
We all will emerge from our seclusion soon. As the trees leaf out and the lawns turn green, our moods will improve, and we will put our lives into higher gear. Until then, I will try hard to keep my head up and force a smile when I pass someone on the street.
Claudia and I will keep our kitchen filled with the aromas of fresh bread and toasted spices that warm our souls. Find a few recipes that do the same for you.
See you on the other side of February.
FOOD
The food section of every newspaper, all the talking heads on TV, and the soft-spoken reporters on NPR offer suggestions for comfort food this time of the year. In almost every case, they are calorie-laden recipes that will keep you glued to the couch while you try to digest all that Mac and Cheese. Let me offer a menu that Claud and I savor. The aroma is intoxicating, and there is no huge caloric guilt. It is a marriage of Italy and Tennessee. Sound familiar?
WHITE BEANS
- 1 pound cannellini beans soaked overnight
- 1 shallot diced
- 1 chili diced
- 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
- 1 teaspoon chopped sage
- 1 heaping tablespoon Kosher salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
Place all of the above ingredients in a pot except the olive oil. Cover with cold water to about an inch over the beans. Pour the olive oil into the pot and turn the flame to low. Place the lid on the pot, leaving about 1/4 of the top exposed. Cook for 2½ hours or until the beans are soft. Pour in a bowl leaving the liquid to be absorbed into the beans as they cool.
*I use the Tuscan method of cooking the beans in a bottle.”Fagioli al Fiaso” Look it up on YouTube
TUSCAN KALE AND CHILI
- 1 bunch of washed kale pulled from the stems and chopped
- ½ of a large onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon of chopped Calabrian peppers ( available locally. They are hot, and I use more than 1 teaspoon
- ¼ cup water or vegetable stock
- Kosher salt and Black pepper
- Olive oil.
In a pre-heated large saucepan, add the olive oil, onion, and garlic, sauté for two minutes allowing the vegetable to flavor the oil. Then add the kale and a good amount of salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss the kale to coat with the oil then add the chili and water or stock. Cover and lower the flame to simmer. Cook for 15 minutes.
CORNBREAD
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 ½ cups cornmeal
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup Canola oil
Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. In a pre-heated 375-degree oven, place a 9” cast iron skillet with the oil for 10 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet and pour into the skillet with the hot oil. Bake for 35 minutes.
TO SERVE
Cut a wedge of hot cornbread in half. Top with a generous helping of the beans and crown with the kale. This is a satisfying and extremely simple dish that I always serve with a really good Zinfandel or Pinot Noir.
You can reach Ed Aloise at edandclaud@gmail.com .
