I had a great weekend. Amid my collection of thick socks, wool hats, fleece gloves, fluffy scarves, and puffy winter coats, I feel like I finally nailed the perfect New York Arctic outfit -- the one that will see me walking at a normal pace around unbearably cold city streets when the subway has signal problems and I'm forced out above ground well before my Carroll Street stop. It took a while to perfect but I've got it down now so fingers crossed the chilly weather stays long enough for me to feel proud of this accomplishment / warmer than everyone else. (Oh, this wasn't a competition?)

Maybe more importantly, I got to experience the pleasure of being free to write all afternoon at my favorite writing spot on both Saturday and Sunday, a rarity. The only plan I had to keep track of was dinner with the Browns on Saturday night. Snow actually fell while I wrote (a writer's dream) and I kept my legs pressed up against the portable heater, my chubby mug of rose petal black tea steaming up against the fogged front window. I took short breaks to nibble on homemade zucchini bread and to listen to an entire conversation taking place between an excited Skidmore alum and a nervous high school senior. When I was done writing on Saturday night, I slid slowly in boots and my perfect New York Arctic outfit down Veranda Place in soft sunset light to Bocca Lupo, the restaurant I was meeting the Browns at but not for another hour. I kept with the theme and took a stool by the window and sipped wine for the hour while reading somebody's leftover newspaper, tapping my foot to some easy motown.

It's kind of gross how nice it all was, the order of events, the timing of a good mood.

Sunday felt just as right as Saturday with an early morning wake up, a quick run, and some strong coffee and english muffins with my mom at the kitchen counter. And then before CBS Sunday Morning was over, I was back at my writing spot with more rose petal black tea. It was such an inspired two days and to top it all off, I really wanted to come home and do some cooking for Michael, my mom, and I.

This was a recipe hailing from a blog post that really spoke to me last week, so much so that I kept the tab open on my computer for the duration of the weekend. The writer reminded me of me and of all the things I don't write about because I'm convinced it's boring. Her blog post didn't bore me at all though and her recipe for lemony soup with white beans, kale, and pasta had me at the first photograph.

It was a great last taste to the weekend.

Ingredients to serve 6-7:

1 can white beans
2 cups kale, chopped
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 small white potato, chopped
the juice of 1 lemon
8 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup malloreddus pasta (or any itty bitty pasta of your choosing)
grated parmesan, a sprinkle
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a soup pot over medium-low heat, fry the onion and garlic together until translucent. Add the chopped potato and stir all together for just a couple of minutes. Next, add the vegetable stock and the white beans, squeezing in the juice of the lemon. Let it simmer for 40 minutes.

When the beans are soft, add the pasta and the parmesan sprinkle. Keep it simmering for another 10 minutes before adding the kale.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

*This soup could have used a crusty bread to go along with it. So much flavor to sop up! Next time.