...it’s easy to fall in love. You can fall in love with people everyday just walking down the street.
But, there is always the hope that this time around there will be something new, something equally bright and wonderful... the taste, the texture, the feeling of content that comes with a certain amount of attention and awareness and presence of feeling. It’s just like falling in love, again and again...
Squash with Sage Butter
This, I think, was not just a belief for Nice Eyes, but a practice. Sometimes, he would nudge me on the subway and whisper, “Chris, look... that man has such a great face. And, I would look up and see something fascinating about the creases and folds or the nose or the jawline--or the way it all came together--in a stranger sitting across from us.
Some of you probably remember Nice Eyes from the days of Digital Girl (my historic dating blog). You can imagine that, in the context of the conversation we were likely having, this statement, which implied that falling in love was easy and temporary and somehow inapplicable in the moment, was not what I wanted to hear. But I can tell you now, long past our days of dating, he was right.
And really, it’s such a liberating idea. It’s a beautiful thing to live in this state where you can fall in love--in intense, fleeting bursts of wonder--every day. And it’s not just people. It’s those tiny random moments... the details of life.... from the way the paint peels on a metal door, to the sound of the water on the docks under the Manhattan bridge, to the red veins on deep green beet leaves, to the mingling of flavors in a well-made cocktail, to the periwinkle of a twilight sky.
The possibilities are tantalizing...
Imagine having full days where you see all of those things, where you aren’t just lost in getting from place to place, days through which you’re falling in love over and over again.
This has been happening to me lately with some frequency. And, I think it all started with butter, sage, and acorn squash.
I was making dinner for my dad during his recent visit to NY, and I fell upon this crazy freedom in the kitchen. I stopped trying to get from place to place, ingredient to ingredient, raw to done and fell in love with the details--the silver green of the soft sage leaves, the brilliant orange of the freshly cut squash, the dance of bringing a dish together without a recipe.
The result was phenomenal. I’ve never made a dinner so wonderful or a dish from scratch so full of flavor. And tonight, I’m going to make this dish again. I suspect it won’t quite be the same. How could it possibly be the same? We all learn very quickly it's never the same twice--even when the person or the ingredients remain unchanged.
I was making dinner for my dad during his recent visit to NY, and I fell upon this crazy freedom in the kitchen. I stopped trying to get from place to place, ingredient to ingredient, raw to done and fell in love with the details--the silver green of the soft sage leaves, the brilliant orange of the freshly cut squash, the dance of bringing a dish together without a recipe.
The result was phenomenal. I’ve never made a dinner so wonderful or a dish from scratch so full of flavor. And tonight, I’m going to make this dish again. I suspect it won’t quite be the same. How could it possibly be the same? We all learn very quickly it's never the same twice--even when the person or the ingredients remain unchanged.
But, there is always the hope that this time around there will be something new, something equally bright and wonderful... the taste, the texture, the feeling of content that comes with a certain amount of attention and awareness and presence of feeling. It’s just like falling in love, again and again...
1 tablespoon Butter
6-8 small sage leaves
1 Cippolini onion, diced
1-2 stalks celery, diced
1 acorn squash, peeled and chopped
Olive Oil
Salt, pepper
Toss the acorn squash with olive oil and roast until tender at 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a non-stick skillet, add sage leaves and cook until crisp, remove from pan and drain on paper towel.
Add onions and celery to pan, sauté until soft. Add squash, turn heat up a bit, sauté until squash is a little brown. Remove from heat. Crumble sage and sprinkle, stir and serve.
(Also I highly recommend toasting the squash seeds. Clean them, toss with olive oil and your favorite spice and roast at 350! Yum!)
Toss the acorn squash with olive oil and roast until tender at 400 degrees.
Melt butter in a non-stick skillet, add sage leaves and cook until crisp, remove from pan and drain on paper towel.
Add onions and celery to pan, sauté until soft. Add squash, turn heat up a bit, sauté until squash is a little brown. Remove from heat. Crumble sage and sprinkle, stir and serve.
(Also I highly recommend toasting the squash seeds. Clean them, toss with olive oil and your favorite spice and roast at 350! Yum!)
Beautiful, thank you for sharing, Christina!
ReplyDeletePositively enlightening!
ReplyDelete