This party was an open house for a sculptor, Richard Starks, (Anne Tyler was not there, having remained in Baltimore since Richard and Jill don't actually know her) but even so we fell into a group of book lovers right away. Suddenly this was no longer a "party" but just a kind group of people chatting while eating grilled chicken, two kinds of quinoa salad, plus Tosh's heartbreakingly beautiful fruit tarts. We talked about left brain/right brain (Jill Bolte Taylor), Life of Pi, Ann Packer, Into the Beautiful North, and Wallace Stegner. Some of us love Stegner and some of us aren't so crazy about him, but either way you need to read Wallace Stegner On Teaching and Writing Fiction. There's a kind of compassion in this book that seems more about being human than about being a writer. Stegner quotes Joseph Conrad:
[Of the writer, I would ask] that he be capable of giving a tender recognition to the obscure virtues. That he not be impatient with [humankind's] small failings nor scornful of their errors. I would not have him expect too much gratitude from that humanity whose fate, as illustrated in individuals, is open to him to depict as ridiculous or terrible. I would wish him to look with a large forgiveness at men's ideas and prejudices, which are by no means the outcome of malevolence but depend on their education, their social status, even their profession. I would wish him to enlarge his sympathies by patient and loving observation while he grows in mental power.... Let him mature the strength of his imagination among the things on earth....."
I'm also reading Geneen Roth's Women, Food, and God. Now, you're probably thinking "what can Wallace Stegner and Geneen Roth possibly have in common?" Yeah, I thought that too, but here's the deal: Geneen Roth says that in order to stop eating ANYTHING and everything within reach, start observing. Put down the fork and let yourself see, hear, smell, touch. That when we eat voraciously and without hunger we are trying to drown out the voices -- our mother's voice or maybe Luva, that horrible ballet teacher we had when we were five who said that we landed like an elephant -- yes, we eat an entire chocolate cake and we drown out those voices but we also halt our ability to hear the wind blowing the oak tree behind the house, and to see the hummingbird hovering just above the rose bush with soft, ruffly flowers that are so vibrantly pink that they glow.
Seems like Stegner (or maybe Conrad) is saying the same things as Roth:
[Enlarge your sympathies]
Patient, loving observation
[Enlarge your sympathies]
Put down that leg of lamb and look at the sunset
[Mature the strength of your imagination]
Lots of folks can put together a sentence; only those with enough room in their hearts can connect words in such a way that the words connect human beings
[Mature the strength of your imagination]
Instead of focusing on what you cannot have (or on the voices of those who refuse to see your beauty), look at the beauty within reach
SHORTCUT ONION SOUP
Make this when you have lots of onions and you are working on maturing the strength of your imagination (which may or may not leave a lot of room for cooking).
1 large yellow onion
6 to 8 small white onions (OR any kind of onion at all)
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 26-ounce container Swanson's low-sodium beef stock
2 cups cold fresh water plus more if needed
2 tablespoons Cognac or Calvados (optional)
Peel the large onion and cut it in half. Dice half the onion and set aside. Cut the other half of the onion soup-style, which means cut thin slices from pole to pole so you have half-rings and then cut those long pieces in half.
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot. When the oil is hot, toss in the diced onion (but not the long onion pieces just yet). Stir the diced onion and when well browned, pour in the stock and the 2 cups of water. Heat over medium heat while you cut the small onions.
Peel and cut the small onions soup-style (no dicing for these). Toss them into the pot as you slice them. Then, lower the heat so the soup simmers. Simmer for as long as you like -- 30 minutes works and 2 hours also works. If you simmer for more than 30 minutes, add another cup or two of cold water. Basically, the longer you simmer, the darker and more mellow the soup. Get up and taste it every 30 minutes or so, and take it off the heat when it's perfect for you. Then stir in the Cognac or Calvados if you like. It's also fine without any booze added.
When you're ready for soup, decide whether you want option A or option B:
Option A
Cut up some nice, fresh veggies -- anything from carrots and celery to parsley root and red peppers. Stir in the diced veggies, heat for just a few minutes and then serve a light, healthy supper.
Option B
Heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Cut a baguette into slices and toast them. (Or just cut any old bread into cubes and toast them.) Ladle soup into ovenproof bowls, add baguette slices (or croutons) and top with shredded gruyere cheese and a little Parmesan. Set the bowls (or one bowl if it's just you) on a baking sheet just to be safe. When the cheese is melted and golden brown on top, take it out and while you're waiting for your soup to cool, you can look at the web site of sculptor Richard Starks:
http://www.richardstarks.com/
See the photo of Lou Ferrigno on the wall behind Richard? Before he became a sculptor, Richard made exercise equipment for body builders including The Hulk. Don't you love meeting interesting new people at parties?
