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<\/a><\/div>\nAt my reading in Madison<\/a> last week, someone asked me to talk about a few of my favorite cookbooks. The ones I mentioned were\u00a0The Zuni Cafe Cookbook<\/a><\/i>,\u00a0All About Braising<\/a><\/i>, various Nigel Slater titles, and\u00a0Every Grain of Rice<\/a><\/i>, and because I am long-winded, my answer wrapped up, blah dee blah blah, about twenty-five minutes later, on the topic of everyday cooking, which I usually do\u00a0without<\/i>\u00a0consulting a book. In truth, I pointed out, I only cook two or three “real” dishes a week – and by “real,” which is a very arbitrary word, I mean things that involve more than 10 minutes in the kitchen. I only very, very rarely make more than one “real” dish at a time – say,\u00a0this favorite Sichuanese beef-and-celery recipe<\/a>\u00a0plus<\/i>\u00a0a side of\u00a0<\/i>braised bok choy.\u00a0\u00a0Usually, even on a good day, it\u2019s just the beef and celery, with some rice from the electric rice cooker. I can\u2019t remember the last time I made a meal that involved three different, recipe-based dishes on a plate. \u00a0Most of the time, my home cooking is very simple and quick: scrambled eggs and a salad dressed in the vinaigrette I always keep in the fridge, a bowl of soup with some cheese and bread or crackers, or rice topped with whatever\u2019s in the crisper drawer and a fried egg and hot sauce.<\/p>\n Later, when I was sitting at a table, signing books, someone expressed surprise that I “cook” so little – that, for someone who professes to love cooking, that I don\u2019t actually do a lot of it. I sort of bumbled through an answer, and a week later, in the wake of much online discussion about domesticity, feminism, and the joys and headaches of home cooking<\/a>, I\u2019m still thinking about how to explain my thinking. \u00a0But I think what it comes down to is this: maybe we\u2019re setting our standards too high for what it means to cook at home, to do home cooking<\/i>? I mean, I love to cook, but I also believe it is totally okay – even good, even great, even elegant<\/i> – to serve scrambled eggs for dinner. I have no qualms about feeding myself, my child, and my husband (and even company) a pot of vegetable soup that I made earlier this week, with some cheddar and purchased bread. I love to cook, but like everybody, my life is full. I\u2019m tired at night. I hate deveining shrimp. I love to cook, but I love to cook two or three times a week, and not much more than that. The rest of the time, we eat leftovers, or we eat something that I (or we) can make in a few minutes. It\u2019s still home cooking, and we\u2019re still eating good food, and there\u2019s real pleasure in that. That\u2019s what I care about.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This soup is one that I\u2019ve made probably a half-dozen times, adapted from a recipe that I found last year in Bon Appetit<\/a><\/i>. You\u2019ve got to peel and chop the bag of carrots, but after that, the soup coasts to the finish line by itself, and a single batch will cover a week\u2019s worth of lunches or a couple of dinners for a small family. The photos I took of it were sort of lackluster, but you can picture it. The soup is anything but. It\u2019s pumpkin-orange and velvety, laced with a creeping heat that leaves your mouth tingling. I like it with sharp cheddar and a pile of Triscuits.<\/p>\n Happy weekend.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\nCarrot-Coconut Soup with Chile and Lime<\/h2>\n
Adapted from Bon Appetit<\/i> and the Clayburn Village Store & Tea Shop in Abbotsford, BC<\/a><\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n