1/11/11

Quinoa Corn Chowder

Perhaps a future chapter in my autobiography will read as follows:


"I shall always remember the first occasion on which I realized that soups could change my life. It was the winter of 2011, and I faced a dangerous trifecta of unemployment, ever-growing debt, and a kitchen practically devoid of fresh food. As I often did during those dark times, I sat on the kitchen cabinet drinking coffee, absent-mindedly flipping through cookbooks, and waiting for the phone to ring offering me a job. As the radio blasted monotonous German electro-pop, I came across a recipe in Terry Hope Romero's now classic, Viva Vegan, Quinoa Corn Chowder with Limas and Aji. I sighed... oh, those fat summer days, when both sweet summer corn and money were plentiful! I pined for the past, before law school, when the world seemed full of meals and possibilities.

Suddenly, I realized: I had some frozen sweet corn in the freezer! Racing to my pantry I discovered I also had quinoa, some red beans, and a passable number of the spices! With a gleam in my eye, I gathered my last few cents and raced to Kaisers, hoping to find a decent avocado to round out my meal. Miraculously, on the top of the pile sat the last passably ripe avocado, beckoning to me.

A few hours later, I sat with S., staring at my creation: bursting with corn, plumped quinoa, red beans, a warming spicy broth, and ripe chunks of avocado, it looked amazing. And friends, it was. I sent up a quick prayer of thanks to God for blessing the planet with that celebrated genius Romero, and dug in. Maybe things were just about to turn around, I thought to myself. If I can eat like this when the money has dried up, just imagine what I can do when that phone finally rings..."

And then hopefully the next chapter will be about when Angela Merkel calls to personally offer me a job heading up the brand new German open-borders refugee agency... or at least that Irish pub finally hits me back for a waitressing gig.

Song of the Day: Die Sterne- Universal Tellerwascher

12 comments:

Bliss Doubt said...

Way to go, T. I've often been told that if you write down what you want, it will help you get it. I wish you a bountiful 2011.

Vic Robinson said...

Looks good! I like the addition of avocado. :)

Mihl said...

Sorry to hear about your job :(

I love Viva Vegan. I haven't made this recipe yet but it looks fantastic!

Fanny said...

I'm sorry for your financial situation, hopefully it works out soon! And what a beautiful picture! So colourful!

Tea and Sympatico said...

Brilliant. That dish looks amazing and good luck with the job hunting.

Anonymous said...

nice picture! how did you get the foreground out of focus?

Ainsley Drew said...

Holy crap, deliciousness! This look so good, T! Good luck with the job search. I'm rooting for you!

Gauri Radha गौरी राधा said...

Looks fantastic!!

Anonymous said...

Sorry about the unemployment. We've been doing a whole lot of soup around here, too. For the same reasons ;(

Rachel W. said...

Definitely going to make this and pretend it's not 11 degrees outside.

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