In May.

This is what I should be wearing.   Instead, I’m wearing a turtleneck and winter coat.  For the love of God, I’ve got socks on!  Socks!

I hate socks.  Don’t put them on until the last possible day in the fall, and put them all away the moment my toes don’t actually get stiff in the spring.  Yes, I’m whining.  And yes, I know it isn’t just NY, it seems like much of the country is experiencing unusually cold temperatures right now.

Last year Flower Child and I spent one of the days of Memorial Day weekend on the beach.  I’m sure, over the course of the weekend, I cooked things that were seasonal.  Tofu dogs, cole slaw, burgers, whatever.

At least it’s still a three day weekend.  And today Husband was going to work later, which meant I could sleep in.  (I try to walk the dogs at least once while he’s home so Flower Child doesn’t have to get dressed and come out with me in the mornings of her days off.) Except I didn’t get to sleep in.  Something went wrong with the plumbing yesterday; dirty, disgusting water backed up into our tub.  So instead of snoring, I was downstairs harassing the handyman at eight AM, to make sure he didn’t “forget” to come up and fix it.  Again.  In my coat, because it was 44 degrees this morning.

I’m making soup for dinner today. Kale and cannellini bean soup.  So wrong for the calendar, I didn’t have soup stuff in the cabinet, and had to go food shopping first thing this morning.

1) Saute your base in olive oil.  I used garlic, red onion, carrots, celery, fresh ground salt and pepper, thyme and oregano.

2)Add canned peeled tomatoes, smush them in pot, cook about 20 minutes.

3)Add water and or broth (I used about half and half), kale, beans, and a hunk of Parmesan rind. Bring to boil, then lower down and cook about half an hour. *I prefer escarole, but the store didn’t have it today and I didn’t want to go to another store.

4) Immersion blender into pot, blend part (but not all, and don’t blend the Parm rind) of soup, I did a rough, quick few runs with it, leaving it mostly chunky, just adding texture.

5) Add torn stale Italian bread.  Or baguette, whatever you’ve got, cook at least another 40 minutes over low heat.