Firsts and Lasts and Rice and Bean Salad
Two events this week--one that feels major for our little family, and one that's devastating for lots of people in my community.
First, Wyatt and I are separated for five days. He's staying with my parents and going to camp. He's having the time of his life, calling every night with reports of going pedal-boating, eating ring pops from the camp candy store, and being spoiled by his grandparents. I opened my Mom's fridge to find a cup of blackberries with this note sticking out the top. I've never been away from him this long, and it's made harder by the fact that I'm especially infatuated with him right now. I miss his helpfulness, his little routines around the house, standing over his bed and watching him sleep. This is ridiculous. He'll be home Friday night.
And my dear friend and colleague Bud passed away on Sunday night. I can't really get my head around it yet. My heart aches for his wife and my friend Kathy, for all of us that loved and knew him. I'm so grateful for his life, for the love and generosity he showed to me, and that his community will be together soon to celebrate him.
Bud's death has made these last few days seem especially poignant and fragile. I haven't wanted to let Loretta out of my sight, and dragged myself to my meetings today. What is this life, if not precious? We are all born to die, but I manage to skirt that reality quite a bit most the time. Right before I got the dark news, Loretta asked, "Mom, how do persons die?" And tonight she said, "Well, that's okay if you and me die. We just won't have bodies anymore." But right now, we have these bodies, and the only thing to do with them is love. I plan to do it more fiercely than ever.
Postscript: Here's a salad I've made twice this week. Once for Jordan's homecoming picnic, and today to drop off for Kathy. Comings and goings, firsts and lasts. Chalk another one up for the comfort of the kitchen. At the very least, it's something to do with our hands when nothing else makes sense.
Rice and Bean Salad
This salad is great to take to potlucks or to grieving households. It's vegan (though you could add some crumbled feta or queso fresco), gluten-free, and quite sturdy. It can sit in the fridge and be picked at for lunch or dinner, or can be piled on top of greens with some grilled chicken for a main dish. Or you could deliver it with some torillas, shredded romaine, and chipotle crema to make roll-ups. It might not garner a bunch of oohs and ahs at first glance, but the garlicky cumin dressing will hook people. This makes a very large bowlful. Halve it if your life is slightly less full of potlucks than mine has been.
2 1/2 c. brown basmati rice
2 15 oz. cans black beans
4 small zucchini
2 c. fresh corn kernels or Trader Joe's roasted corn, (sold frozen)
couple big handfuls chopped Italian parsley or cilantro
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1/4 c. raw pumpkin sides for garnish
For dressing:
1 Tb. coarse salt
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ancho chile powder
Fresh ground pepper
Juice of two limes
2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
Cook your rice. I do mine in a rice cooker, then let the whole batch cool in the fridge overnight, breaking up clumps when I dump it into the bowl. However you do it (lots and lots of water on the stove would be another way), your grains should emerge separate, not all stuck together, and you'll want the rice down to cool down a bit before proceeding.
Grill the zucchini (I used my grill pan). Cut each zucchini in half crosswise, then cut each half lengthwise into four 1/4" flat strips. Toss the strips with a bit of olive oil and salt, and grill for about 2 minutes/side. Cool a bit, then dice.
If you're not using Trader Joe's amazing frozen roasted corn kernels (my new favorite thing), you can just use raw corn if it's really sweet and fresh. If it doesn't fit that description, toast it in a skillet with a tiny bit of olive oil and salt for a few minutes just to take the raw edge off.
Gently toss rice, zucchini, corn, and all other ingredients together.
To make dressing, combine first four ingredients, then whisk olive in to emulsify. Gently toss salad with dressing, and top salad with pumpkin seeds.
August 18, 2010
Reader Comments (8)
Delicious! And many thanks for the inspiring post -- a reminder of what really counts in this world :-)
Here's to fierce love and fiercely lived lives while we're in these bodies. Love you and your various communities. Love your sweet surrender too, Loretta.
(Here's to this salad as well. I ate some at the picnic and took some home. It is really good.)
From this body to yours...love:)
I had the same week, although my kids are now adults, I still love them fiercely. I went to a Memorial for a work friend on Sunday, and went through the same emotion set as you have experienced. There is no explanation, and when we have been honored to know someone and they pass (always to quickly) why we need to learn from everything that touches our lives. Take care.
So sorry for the loss of your friend - its amazing how losing someone close is the one and only real wake up call that life is short.
My daughter has vacationed with her grandma (my Mom) since the age of 5. And while I missed her desperately, what I noticed was that even at the tender age of 5, she did most of the housework - I am a bad momma - we would talk to each other every afternoon and I'd say something like "all I need to do tonight is clean the bathroom and mop the kitchen floor."
I'd get home from work and the babysitter would say "I told her we could play outside, but she wanted to clean!" She's still my biggest helper around the house. Thankfully she's going to community college and starts on Monday and will still being living at home! (although I think she's been planning to move out on her own since the age of 12!)
Enjoy your family this weekend!
Gary and I, too, have had some recent and painful reminders that life is short, often much shorter than we'd will it to be, and it picks up speed as it goes along! Thank you for your rice and beans/beginnings and endings salad, which is just what is called for, and for your young wisdom!!!! And thanks for the perspective of enjoying THIS harvest!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! I'm making it right now. I do have a question - you say "garlicky cumin dressing," however I don't see any mention of garlic in the recipe. I'm going to toss some in the dressing, but was that an omission, or was the word "garlicky" misplaced? I did my zucchini on my grill pan like you suggested and it turned out terrific. Thanks again for the yummy recipe - I'm waiting for the rice to cool, but I snitched a bit of rice, salad, and dressing in a small bowl to "test" - VERY tasty!
I imagine you have other folks lurking in the posts of the past so I want to give my notes on making this salad last week. First, I LOVE it and know I will make it many times in the future. Here were my motifications, in true leftoverist fashion: I didn't have canned black beans so I used two cans of kidney beans. They were wonderful. I had fresh cilantro AND parsely so I used both and that was delightful as well. No ancho chili powder (although it is now on the shopping list) so I used plain chili powder - just a bit scant since my kids don't "do" spicy. As mentioned above, I didn't see garlic in the recipe list, but you mention it in the post text, so I minced two cloves into the dressing -- I think next time I might try three. I added the tomatoes only when I served it, and tried goat cheese crumbles once and cottage cheese on top another time and both were very yummy. I forgot the raw pumpkin seeds the first time and I won't ever again b/c they add a wonderful crunch factor that took an amazing salad up a notch. I passed a bowl of this along to Nora who ate it for lunch at NH as well as a bowl to my best friend who just lost someone dear. I thought you should know your salad continues the work of blessing others. :)