78. SPOONS

Far easier for eating stew than a fork or a shoe

* How many other things would be near impossible to eat without a spoon? This morning, I thought of this simple miracle while eating cereal. Can you imagine eating cereal with a fork?
* A fork can hold solid food but not liquid. A straw could be used for liquid, but might spell disaster with solid food. Only a spoon can handle both.
* I like to use a large spoon with my breakfast, but a small spoon with my ice cream. The smaller the spoon, the more you might patiently enjoy what you're eating.

77. SYMPHONIES

All the instruments, all together, all at once

* A few days ago, my mom suggested this idea to me for a simple miracle. (Thanks Mom!) How, she wondered, does a composer manage to imagine all of the different instruments' parts, being played simultaneously? For a common man, it is sufficiently daunting to think of composing a piece for but a single instrument!
* Usually, I post a simple miracle after I have recently experienced it. Perhaps this simple miracle will be an anticipation of an experience to come. It has been a while since I have been there, but there are some terrific symphonies at the Kennedy Center in nearby Washington DC.
* At college in Cleveland, I enjoyed attending symphonies in Severance Hall, adjacent to our campus. If the music department still had extra tickets on Friday afternoon, a stray student like me could go for a mere two dollars! It was there that I first learned to appreciate the symphony.
* I can recognize a symphony by Aaron Copland or by Anton Dvorak, but not many others. What symphonies can you recognize, just by hearing them?

76. LEFTOVERS

Kitchen relief on a busy evening

* How it happens, I do not know. However, I often do not return home until 8 or 10 PM. In addition to being tired, I'm usually hungry! I think, "Awww, mannn, what am I going to cook?" Then I remember, "There's leftovers!"
* This week, I have eaten leftover Spanish rice that I made for our young adult group on Sunday. Wrapped in a heated tortilla with red pepper hummus, it's delicious.
* I suppose that I began to learn to like leftovers when I was a graduate student and cooking for myself for the first time. Sunday, I would make an entire pound of spaghetti or a full pot of rice and beans and spend the rest of the week eating it.
* Now, when I go to visit my family in Pennsylvania, I think that my mom counts on me to clean the refrigerator of leftovers. "If it's there," I figure, "Someone's got to eat it. We can't just throw it away."
* Leftover soup was always a favorite at Grandpa's house. What leftovers do you think are the best?

75. A BIG POT OF SOUP

My grandpa's specialty

* What kind of soup do you make in your biggest pot?
* Lately, my sister Maria has been trying different varieties of lentil soup.
* My mom likes to make full-size servings of homemade wedding soup.
* But the most memorable soup was made by Grandpa Koshute. Every Saturday morning, he would use a huge cut of meat, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, and other vegetables to make what my sister Missy calls "a whole meal in one bowl." Even for a large family, he made a big enough pot to last for the whole weekend. Every time that we would visit, we knew what we were eating: "Papa soup and halupkis" (while listening to polkas).
* Michael Koshute, our grandpa, died this past Monday. He was 93.