Wednesday, March 24, 2010

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.


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

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?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

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?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

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.

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