A brief homecoming
With wilted vegetable soup
I was staring at the inside of my fridge. I felt tired, aching, stuffy, bloated, and in a general mood of malaise that occupies someone suddenly bedridden with a cold virus he caught somewhere in the past week because his body is no longer accustomed to dealing with condensed swaths of humanity.
There were lots of edibly mis-shapen vegetables on the cusp of the trash can, so I decided to make soup.
Everything went in — tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, garlic, onion, and even cheese in the end.
The vat was large enough to last three days, with slight additions and variations, and it’s all I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dessert. The effects were intriguingly cleansing, and aided in the rapid restoration to normal.
Vegas
America’s bleached asshole.
I do not like that place. It had its charm 20 years ago, but not anymore. Especially not in the scorching summer heat.
We had decided to skip this year’s National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) conference — something I didn’t know existed until last June. We’d already visited once, and knew all the players, and both wanted to avoid the dreaded continent crossing to the forsaken desert.
But when I realized I could get a room for $7 a night at the Luxor, right next door to the conference grounds, and talked myself into the exciting prospects of meeting all our suppliers, customers, future partners, and potential acquisitions in one fell swoop, and adding a return stop to my old home to see some friends of mine — it became a no-brainer.
I tried to convince Mohamed to join me, but he had real work to do to close the month and finish all our pending orders. Since I am not fit for manual labor, I took one for the team.
The room proved worthy of its price, and was a good reminder of getting what you pay for. It also constituted an introduction to a hotel floor price in our travel policy (I only requested a room change three times before switching hotels the second night).
The conference grounds proved fruitful. I realized that when armed with a printed target list and some desired objectives, I’m actually capable of having many conversations and extracting useful information, which may or may not result in new business — but no acquisition prospects.
I also discovered the beauty of watching multiple World Cup games from one chair, both in the betting rooms, where I did not bet, and at the bar a thousand TVs wide, where every Mexican goal resulted in deafening roars and rituals I have not witnessed before.
All in all, it was worth it. But I was very happy to wrap it all up and exit the sweltering mirage.
California
It was my first time back since departing on my cross-country voyage last August. The last time I got a rental in SFO was almost ten years ago, when I abandoned my Canadian post and moved to San Jose to begin anew.
A lot has changed since then. But the clear sunny California skies, and the almost pristine natural backdrops of the 280 South (a worthy alternative over the trodden 101, ten times out of ten, even with the extra commute time), and the smattering of homeless people who randomly excrete body fluids in the worst of places — all remain unchanged.
I was happy to be back. The schedule was light but packed with good friends for every major meal. I re-visited my office and the people who cared enough to show up on Friday with my favorite sandwiches (from Mendocino Farms), and I even got to try pickleball for the first time as a pre-lunch activity.
We re-enacted our Palestinian group get-together over some delicious food, and my partner and I valiantly lost to our foes and wrapped it up with watching Jordan succumb to Argentina in a huge upset match.
Messi should have been banned from this tournament, in addition to Mbappe, and maybe Ronaldo — haven’t they done enough damage already?
I’d thought about visiting my old home on the last day. Something I feel excited about every time I change a location, but end up dreading when the day comes. This was the case in Toronto in 2017, and again last week — I ended up bailing, and instead had lunch at the In-N-Out with a very good friend, as we contemplated the pros and cons of financial security and the paradox of infinite choice, and which one leads to the other — a question almost as complicated as getting the burger order right.
The flight home was uneventful. I randomly stumbled on a great movie called Marty Supreme, made by one of the guys who did Uncut Gems. Kevin O’Leary also performed a surprisingly good role, despite his bald head and excessive verbal diarrhea.
It was also enough time for my body to let all the germs I acquired take hold. After many months of grounded routines in my home, I’ve lost both the routine and the antibodies to fight off the evils of other humans, and I had no choice.
The soup
The soup ended up tasting surprisingly good for something made with dated ingredients and no recipe.
I haven’t written about food in a while, and have been enjoying going back to basics and simplifying my recipes.
I’m finding that the less I plan, measure, and fuss, the better the end product tastes.
To make a good soup, you need a good base of stock, vegetables, a thickening agent (potatoes are ideal for this, or a tablespoon of corn starch dissolved in a some water if you want a low-carb version), onions, garlic, and some spices.
Here’s how it’s made.
Ingredients:
Roughly 2 pounds broccoli
Almost 40 cherry tomatoes (any other tomato will do)
One large onion
4 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic
4 cups chicken stock (I used pre-packaged)
Olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika
Handful of chopped cheese, any cheese you like (optional)
Dried chilies for some heat (optional)
Protein add-ons: chickpeas / white fish / salmon
In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add the onions, cook for 5–7 minutes, then throw in the garlic and stir for a couple of minutes.
Then throw everything else in except the protein.
Top off with water until all the vegetables are covered.
Bring to a boil, then drop the heat to medium-low and let simmer for ~20 minutes.
Jam an immersion blender in and blend until you break up all the large pieces.
Season with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste.
Throw in your selection of protein and let simmer for 5 minutes. You can also mix this up as you reheat your portions each day with a different protein.
Add the cheese if using, then eat.
Sometimes all you need to do is gather some wilted ingredients, blend them together, and you end up with something wildly unexpected.
Happy 159th to Canada, 250th to the USA, and 5th to HOMER!