7. The Comfort Food of the Moment Is Sandwiches.

thank you, nymagazine, for reminding us that sandwiches are amazing and "of the moment."i'm a huge fan of sandwiches. like my lady liz lemon said, "I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich."

indeed, LL.

the loneliest apple.

it was so long ago already that casey deposited some of his CSA's apples at my house. he hasn't even been here in at least a month. the last batch were a bit mealy, which i hate, and so they lived in the kitchen much longer than they should have.

there's been just one kicking around for a while and i've felt compelled to eat it, mostly because i hate to waste. but what to do with its mealy self? finally, i had a plan.

chopped into slices and covered in turbinado sugar and cinnamon, i let it bake it in the toaster oven for 25 minutes or so--and out came a delicious, dessert-like wonderment. oh yes. and then it was gone.

i was never going to throw out that stale bread.

casey would call it "poor man's french onion soup" for sure.

i'd been eying that piece of stale sourdough for at least 2 days. there was an open container of vegetable broth in the fridge. i chopped up about 1/3 of an onion and 3-4 of the teeniest cloves of garlic and tossed them into a pot with the broth and let it cook until my kitchen smelled wonderfully garlicky-oniony. that stale bread was chopped (it hurt to do it with my hands; it was so damn stale) and put into a a single-serving pyrex. the onion soup was poured over it.

of course i didn't have the right cheese. i sliced some sharp cheddar into thin pieces to make a layer and put them over the top, but then microplaned a pile of parmesan over it. baked it in the toaster until the top was brown.

totally, totally french onion soup.

consumed with some broccoli because, well, green things are good for you. and mighty tasty.

all of a sudden.

how to quickly make soup when it's suddenly cold:
1. saute in a pan: chopped carrots, swiss chard, onion, garlic, and one habenero pepper (which was probably too much, but it seemed dumb to leave just a little and so there's that).
2. cook vermicelli noodles in a bit of water with a vegan bouillon cube (which are better than the vegetarian ones).
3. mix together with a big tablespoon of peanut butter (for protein, and flavor).