Kyle’s Mom arrives this afternoon and we’re looking toward to her arrival with the same anticipation and glee we normally withhold for the first snow of the season. She’s bringing along with her lots Christmas cheer in the form of: Christmas stockings, Hershey Kisses for making Peanut Blossoms, and a new set of homeschool books. She’s also bringing much needed hugs for all of us transplants, and she will be lifting a huge weight from our shoulders known as the “who-the-hell-do-we-call-when-I-go-into-labor?” weight which I felt intensely again last night as I weathered four hours of contractions through the middle of the night.
It feels like we’ve been holding our breath, waiting for Grandma to get here, and then we can all collectively relax, enjoy the holiday, and slip out to the birth center when we need to without any stress… because giving birth isn’t stressful on it’s own, right? It’s been three and half years since we welcomed Lulu to our little family, and I have to say I’m not particularly looking forward to the whole process again! I am, however, very much looking forward to having a teeny tiny, fuzzy skinned, sweet smelling baby to snuggle with. Both girls were born at exactly 39 weeks, so if this baby stays on that same program we could have a newborn by the start of next week!
We still don’t have a lot prepared for welcoming our babe, but the wonderful Nuna company sent us an amazing Ivvi Savi stroller (pushchair), and a Sena travel crib (cot), which will, for the time being, be the baby’s bassinet/crib. When the boxes arrived on Tuesday, I about hugged the delivery man! I set it up the Sena yesterday morning, and the girls quickly took it over as a crib for their dolls. I have a feeling their baby brother is going to have to get used to sharing his swaddles, bottles, new stroller, crib, board books, and tiny clothes with his sisters and their dolls. It’s amazing how much more “ready” I feel to have this baby now that we have someplace to set him down!
 PIN PINThe freezer here is tiny and doesn’t allow for my usual about to have a baby cooking and stocking the freezer extravaganza, but the fridge is stocked with simple ingredients for simple dinners. I’ve had a really hard here time finding ingredients for most of my “go to” meals, and have spent the past few months coming up with new go to meals. I feel like my draw towards innovative cooking has had to be put on a hold a bit due to the challenge of finding ingredients (that I seriously took for granted back home), and the fact that the convection oven seems to insist on torching about everything I attempt to bake or roast.
I’m finding that if I stick to much more basic recipes and meals like tuna noodle casserole, sausage lentil soup, and roasted chicken, I’m much less likely to end up in tears (although, it’s still pretty likely regardless of the success of the dish, given my current hormonal state). If you were to ask Kyle how many times he’s found me weeping in the kitchen over a pan of dry brownies, a garbage bin full charred root vegetables, or an overcooked chicken, he would say, “A lot.”
PINPINFor the most part I’m finding the stove top to be much more controllable and predictable, so I prefer to make dinner with a pots and pans “on the hob”, as they say here. One of the easiest things I’ve started making regularly, is pasta with herbs and garlic breadcrumbs. I begin with salty water boiling away, ready to cook my pasta – any type of pasta will do and the kids love macaroni so we do that, and a non-stick skillet over medium heat with a small pool of olive oil warmed through. Into that pool I toss some breadcrumbs and dried herbs, allowing them to begin toasting before I add in lots of garlic. The fragrant, toasty breadcrumbs are then simply tossed with the al dente pasta, and a bit of pasta water and served with some grated Parmesan cheese (which I know is not traditional, but I just can’t eat pasta without a little salty Parmesan!), lemon zest, a few more of the breadcrumbs, a hefty drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of flakey salt. The finished result also benefits from a handful of thawed frozen pea for a bit of color and pop, or can be topped with a lacy-edged olive oil fried egg. The whole dinner takes about 20 minutes to make. With meals like that in the queue, who needs a fully stocked chest freezer?
PINPINPINPINPASTA WITH HERBS AND GARLIC BREADCRUMBS
Ingredients.
1 lb. pasta
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley (or a small palmful minced fresh parsley)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
flake salt
freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes
olive oil fried eggs (optional)
Directions.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
In a non-stick skillet, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is just starting to shimmer, add in the breadcrumbs and dried herbs, stirring to coat them in the oil.
When they are just to turn a light golden brown, use your spatula to move the breadcrumbs to the outside of the pan, leaving an exposed space in the center. Pour another tablespoon of olive oil into the center of the pan and allow it to heat up a bit before adding the minced garlic, and a pinch of red pepper flakes if you’re using them. Gently sauté the garlic for a minute or so until fragrant, then mix the garlic into the breadcrumbs.
Stir occasionally until the breadcrumbs are deep, warm caramel color, and smell wonderfully toasty. Transfer the breadcrumbs to a large bowl and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper (skip the back pepper if you used red pepper flakes). Scoop out about 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs and set aside for topping the pasta.
Cook your pasta to al dente. Drain it, reserving about 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water.
Add the pasta to the large bowl with the breadcrumbs and begin to toss it together, adding splashes of the pasta water as needed to help the breadcrumbs adhere to the pasta. Toss in the peas, lemon zest, and fresh parsley if you have it on hand.
Transfer the pasta to serving bowls, drizzle with a bit more olive oil, top with a sprinkle of Parmesan, an extra bit of breadcrumbs, and a pinch of flake salt.
Serve on it’s own or top it with an olive oil fried egg.
PRINTABLE RECIPE.
PASTA WITH GARLIC AND HERB BREADCRUMBS
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We’ve been pretty much homebound the past couple of weeks, which is par for the course this time of year. Last weekend I had a round of preterm contractions that left us all a bit rattled and motivated; nothing will kick you into gear like thinking your little bundle might just arrive sooner than you expected! I should know by now that that’s a possibility since I had similar experiences with the girls. But, alas…
We don’t have so much as a bassinet, diapers, or baby wipes in the house – although I do have a laundry basket of clean, folded, newborn clothes tucked away in our closet. It’s strange because as much as I want to nest and prepare for our baby’s arrival, we still feel somewhat-not-at-home here, and that has made it hard for me to nest and for me to create a space and prepare for the baby. So, while we still have a completely bare nursery with wall to wall mauve carpeting, I allowed those six hours of contractions to motivate me to log in to our Amazon account and get the basics lined up. Slowly but surely the deliveries have started arriving and by the end of the week we’ll have our stash of newborn diapers, a new booster seat for Gigi so the babe has her carseat to ride home from the hospital in, and baby wipes. The basics will be covered, and we’ll figure out where to go from there as needed. Even though this is my third baby, in so many ways it feels like it’s my first.
Another cause for our current lay-low-lifestyle is that the kids have gotten knocked down by their first major cold of the season. High fevers, coughs, and sore throats call for spending lots of time in our pajamas, making chicken stock, binge watching Curious George, lots of essential oils rubbed on chests and backs, and early bedtimes.
In the midst of our quarantine, we managed to pull together a little Thanksgiving dinner for the four of us on Sunday, and so have been nibbling at leftover stuffing and apple cobbler into the start of the week. But today the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, and I’m mapping out what to make for the remainder of the week. I have no idea what’s for dinner tonight, but I do know that we will be making a loaf of banana bread this afternoon, an activity that has brought me untold comfort in our few months here in England.
PINPINFinding little comforts is what I’m all about at the moment. The baby’s nursery might not be complete (today or ever), but there will be banana bread. Aside from the one proper cookbook that made the suitcase cut (Mastering the Art of French Cooking), only a few food memoirs came along for the journey. Most notably, and most in rotation, is Molly Wizenberg’s wonderful A Homemade Life. I’ve made her banana bread recipe at least a dozen times since we moved. The recipe calls for chocolate chips and crystallized ginger, and it’s great with both, one or the other, or without the edition of either which is how I find myself making it most of the time.
PINPINPINThere’s something resourceful and comforting about making banana bread – even if you find yourself buying extra bananas just to let them turn overripe on the counter, or find yourself marking perfectly edible bananas with a marker with phrases like “Don’t eat me!” and “I’m for banana bread!”
PINPINPINI love the way that banana bread smells when it’s baking. I love the way that the recipe for it has become so familiar that I almost don’t have to look at it. I love that the ingredients are always on hand as long as you have those bananas at the ready. Mostly, I love that the girls love to make it with me and I feel so much like a “mom” when we are making it together, and even more like a “mom” when we’re sitting together eating warm, steaming, fragrant slices of it with glasses of cold milk in the middle of the afternoon… as we will be doing, yet again, about one hour and a half from now.
PINPINPINPINMOLLY WIZENBERG’S BANANA BREAD
Ingredients.
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and then cooled slightly
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (from about 3 large ripe bananas)
1/4 cup well-stirred whole-milk plain yogurt (not low or nonfat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions.
Set a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350F. Grease a standard-sized (about 9 by 5 inches) loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips and crystallized ginger and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork. Add the mashed banana, yogurt, melted butter, and vanilla and stir to mix well. (The same fork works fine for this.)
Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir gently with a rubber spatula, scraping down the sides as needed, until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter with be thick and somewhat lumpy, but there should be no unincorporated flour. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan and smooth the top.
Bake into the loaf is a deep shade of golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 mins to 1 hour. If the loaf seems to be browning too quickly, tent with aluminum foil.
Cool the loaf in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then tip out onto the rack, and let it cool completely before slicing – unless you absolutely can’t help yourself, in which case, dig in.
PRINTABLE RECIPE.
MOLLY WIZENBERG’S BANANA BREAD
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We’ve spent these past couple of weeks being really quiet, embracing the chilly weather, then embracing the strange balmy weather, and now embracing the pouring rain. I’ve spent a fair amount of time sipping tea and editing photos from our trip to France. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude that we got to have this trip as a family. One of the main reasons that we took this leap abroad was that it would allow us the proximity to travel; to take our kids to some of our favorite places, and to discover new places together. France is most certainly high on our list of favorite places – not to mention favorite people and favorite food! Perhaps it has something to do with it being the first place that either Kyle or I ever set foot in Europe. It holds such a special place for the two of us… now for the four (soon to be five) of us.
PINWe began our trip on the coast of France. We took the train from London to Paris, met my cousin, and spent the night at his home before loading into the car for a (surprisingly relaxing) five hour drive to their vacation home in Meschers-sur-Gironde. When my cousin had sent me a note the week before our trip telling me to make sure and pack the girls’ swimsuits and sandals I thought he must be confused since my only beach experiences in October and November required multiple layers of wool socks and long underwear!
As we drove Southwest from Paris the chilly, foggy grey gave way to sunshine, and by the time we found ourselves meandering down country lanes we had the windows cracked and were marveling at the greenery and gardens along the lanes. Within moments of having parked the car at the beach, the girls had embraced their cousins, had their pants rolled up (or ditched completely), and had hopped straight into the surf!
PINPINPINThe morning after we arrived, we walked down to the market in town where we bought fish, vegetables, fruit, cheeses, and salted butter. The produce was just beautiful: dirt-encrusted mushrooms, translucent grapes, verdant spinach, fragrant clementines! The girls and I each got an apple and we walked, eating our apples, to the local bakery for baguettes, and, of course, a daily selection of croissants. We spent the rest of that first day at the beach, soaking in the sunshine, the crisp air, and the wonderful sound of the waves and the kids playing in the water.
PINPINPINPINPINPINPINPINPINPINThe following day was spent exploring a nearby beach, and I made every effort to take it all in, hoping that I could absorb enough sunshine and butter to get me through the grey winter that I knew was just around the corner. Gigi and Lulu ran around non-stop with their cousins, they climbed to the top of the lighthouse in Coubre with Kyle and my cousin while I trekked alone over the dunes to the beach – since climbing to the top of a two hundred foot tall lighthouse didn’t seem advisable at all for this stage of pregnancy. A while later, they all joined me for sandcastle building and playing in the water. Kyle and walked along the beach as the sun set and everything felt so good, so positive.
PINPINPINOctober gave way to November and we spent the first day of the month picnicking on the hilltops and exploring the bunkers of Pointe de Suzac. In the afternoon my cousin took his kids to see their Grandmother, so we were on our own. We loaded up a small bag with beach toys, and walked through the crunchy leaves, down the path to the Plage de Nonnes. I mostly just sat on the towel feeling very pregnant and very happy while Kyle and Gigi worked away at the most elaborate sandcastle. I had no idea Kyle had these sandcastle building skills, but now that I know I imagine they will be called upon again and again on future beach adventures.
PINPINPINPINPINThe following morning we shook as much sand as we could from our clothes and shoes, and loaded up the car to drive back to the city. We’d decided to venture into the heart of Paris to stay at the apartment of another wonderful friend, Cécile, who is like an Aunt to us. We hadn’t been planning on staying in the city, but we couldn’t resist taking the girls in to experience it.
I remember hearing an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow where she talked about her Dad taking her to Paris for the first time because he wanted her first trip to Paris to be with the one man who is going to love her for the rest of her life. I was lucky enough to visit and see Paris for the first time with my Dad, and that trip and time with him is one of my greatest treasures. We emerged from the metro and onto the dark street, and hurried towards the Champ de Mars. We made it around the corner and into place just in time to see the tower light up and glitter. I felt so overwhelmed that my daughters were getting to see Paris through our eyes, holding our hands, held close and loved so deeply by their Dad, just the way I had gotten to on my first trip.
We headed straight from the Eiffel Tower to Cécile’s apartment, and the moment we walked in I felt a wave of comfort, familiarity, and warmth. The girls and I made ourselves at home while Kyle popped down to the Rue Cler for a rotisserie chicken, a baguette and some cheese, and a few vegetables that would make up our dinner. Once the kids were asleep, Kyle and I mapped out our next few days in our favorite city.
We started our first day with a visit to the Marché Bastille, which has to be one of the most inviting and fun things to do in Paris. We sampled everything: tart passionfruit, sweet proscuitto, subtle persimmons, piping hot Nutella crêpes, spicy radishes, bitter espresso, crunchy cherry tomatoes. We could have spent the entire day their eating everything in sight, but we already had lunch mapped out, so we reluctantly pulled ourselves away from the market and made our way on foot deeper into Le Marais, by way of the Place des Vosges, to L’As du Fallafel where we placed our order, and hopped eagerly in line to wait for our food. Once we had our falafels and frites in hand, we walked back down the street the way we’d come and popped into a small park, quickly found ourselves benches to sit on, and proceeded to tuck into the overabundance of food we’d just purchased. After lunch we made our way to and through Notre Dame by way of Berthillon, and then over to the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore. Then it was home to the apartment for a simple dinner of bread, cheese, and all the goodies we’d bought at the market.
PINPINPINPINPINPINPINPINPINPINPINThe following morning was the first and only day of rain during our whole trip, we bundled up in our layers, caught raindrops on our tongues, and then warmed up inside the Musée d’Orsay with Cécile, strolling somewhat quickly through the various exhibits in order to see what we could see while the kids were still enjoying it. We had every intention of spending the day on the go again, so after the museum we parted ways with Cécile and began to make our way towards the Louvre. We made it as far and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. We stopped under it for shelter from the freezing rain, and ate sandwiches we’d brought with us. We saw the buses heading back towards the apartment driving by every ten minutes, and decided that going back to warm up would be wiser than dragging our shivering selves all over the city.
PINPINPINPINAfter a nice midday rest, the afternoon turned a bit warmer so we rallied and walked to Eiffel Tower with the kids, stopping for a hot chocolate along the way. We began to make our way towards the metro with the kids to take a train out to my Aunt and Unlce’s house, but by that point it was raining again, and the kids were in full melt-down mode. We stood on the train platform, already having bought tickets, and decided that we needed to just go home and get them in bed. We walked home by the lit up Eiffel Tower, gave the kids a quick, warm bath, and had them sleeping soundly by 7:30pm.
PINPINPINThe following day was our last lovely day in the city before we would be heading back to England. We started the day with a walk across my favorite bridge, Pont Alexandre III, where the girls and I each made a wish and tossed a cent into Seine, and I told them about the time during our honeymoon when I’d made a wish for a family to love in that very spot on that very bridge. We strolled through Jardin des Tuileries, past the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel that had kept us dry the day before, and admired the Louvre from the outside (cause, honestly, the idea of taking kids into that museum sounds like a nightmare). We walked and had a “make up” brunch with my Aunt and Unlce at Le Pain de Quotideien before taking the girls to buy macarons, which we ate in the sunshine while watching kids push their boats around at the Jardin du Luxembourg.
PINPINPINPINPINPINPINAfter an evening spent with Cécile and her partner, Jean-Marie, we climbed into bed in the apartment for the last time on this special trip. “I want to stay in this cozy apartment for twenty more days!”, Lulu declared, and we all agreed with her. We made our way home the following morning, sad that the wonderful vacation was over, excited to cozy up for the winter and get ready to welcome our baby, and incredibly grateful for the whole experience.
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The weekend before last we took a trip to Oxford to visit and stay with new friends for a night. We ate delicious food at their house, wandered through the streets of Oxford, visited the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, played at the park, and ate pizza (and those who aren’t pregnant (everyone but me) drank beer) at Beerd. Twenty four hours in Oxford was definitely not enough, and I’m looking forward to going back to see and experience more; it’s a city with so much history and character.
PINPINPINPINPINPINOver the weekend in Oxford, Lulu kept asking me where we were going, “Are we going home? Are we going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house – the one with the swimming pool? I want to go home to our blue house!” When we did get home here to our house, Lulu climbed out of the taxi and wailed, “Nooooooo. I said not this house! I’m tooooo saaaaaad!” Then she attempted to force herself back into the taxi, presumably to be driven her back across the Atlantic ocean, and across the entirety of the United States to “Grandma and Grandpa’s house – the one with the swimming pool” in Seattle.
There are moments like that all the time, but last week was better than the one before, and this week is better than last. We are doing our best to make things feel cozier at the house, make some friends, and to get everyone’s needs met. The kids need a lot these days, some of it in the form of extra snuggles; some of it in the form of space; some of it in the form of crisp toast smeared with Nutella. Although Kyle and I can’t provide them with every thing they need to get through this ongoing transition, we are the only people who can make this move, this adventure, a positive experience for them – both by example of our own attitudes and efforts, and also by extending ourselves beyond what we think we’re capable of in terms of parenting, partnering, and everything in-between.
We can’t take away the fact that they miss their friends and community so much more deeply and profoundly than we could have anticipated, nor can we make every moment exciting and magical, but we can take opportunities to waltz with them while we wait for delayed trains, do our best to navigate the varied emotions they’re experiencing, and to provide them with comfort and a restorative day to day routine.
We bought a used car this week, which will make a world of difference in the “day to days”. Needless to say, two months without a car has lead to major cabin fever – even for a homebody like me! We are excited to explore the area more, and start planning all those little trips to nearby villages we’ve been dreaming about. This last weekend we all threw on our coats and boots (except for Lulu who insisted on wearing summer-appropriate footwear) and headed to a local farm shop. The opportunity to get out and see a bit of the surrounding area lifted all of our spirits… even if Gigi found the near-the-end-of-season cabbage and cauliflower patches to be a bit pungent, and Lulu discovered her first dead bird (with a mix of fascination and disgust).
PINPINPINPINPINPINI came across this quote recently that I keep reflecting on…
“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.” -L.R. Knost
Since we’ve moved most things have seemed to either be amazing or awful. It gives a lot of value to the importance of the “ordinary, mundane, and routine”. In our case, during this particular season, that means attempting to cultivate a daily routine with grace and gratitude. A routine that includes homeschool lessons, laundry to be washed and then systematically strewn across radiators and drying racks (we don’t have a dryer), rainy afternoon baths, and planning and cooking our daily meals.
PINPINPINCooking, the kind of cooking I like to do, requires a bit of planning and forethought: remembering to soak the beans overnight for soup, making something from nothing when we have a nearly empty fridge, or jotting down a menu that I know the kids will love. In some moments it’s true excitement to cook, in others it’s my road map to getting through the days and a way of punctuating the week ahead.
One of my favorite things to cook here this fall has been soups. The ingredients are easy to come by, I love making stock on drizzly days when we’re stuck at home, and soup is one of the ultimate comfort foods. When piping hot soup is ladled into bowls, topped with wisps of Parmesan that practically disintegrate as they hit the broth, and often has a plate of golden, fragrant garlic bread to accompany it, everything seems like it’s going to be okay.
White Bean Soup isn’t something I made often back in the States. At “home” I gravitated towards soups like Posole and Ramen, but I’ve had a hard time finding the ingredients for those here, so I started dreaming about soups that felt more… European. French Onion Soup is a favorite, but I haven’t yet found a good bakery! Butternut Squash Soup sounds wonderful, but I don’t have a blender or food processor! Slowly, my culinary imagination found its way to White Bean Soup in an effort to make something hearty, healthy-ish, and comforting, but also wanting to make a dinner that was easy, inexpensive, and rustic (and one that requires very little in the way of kitchen equipment).
PINThis soup begins, as so many good things do, with bacon. Lardons aren’t something you can always find easily in the States, but here they take the place of sliced bacon. The fat is rendered from the bacon and they are cooked most of the way through before being set aside; a bit of the bacon fat and a bit of olive oil are an inviting pool for the onion, garlic, carrots, celery to sauté in. Herbs, homemade broth, and creamy Cannellini beans round out this basic base. A Parmesan rind can be added too if you have one on hand in your refrigerator or freezer – a Parmesan rind adds an astonishing amount of flavor and depth!
PINPINPINThe soup bubbles slowly away for an hour or so until the beans give way and are tender, but still al dente. Just before it heads to the table, the bacon is heated and crisped up, chopped kale is pan fried until crisp, and these, along with a hearty shaving of Parmesan and a few turns of fresh pepper, top the soup. At the end of any day, whether it be an amazing, awful, or mundane one, this soup is certain to warm you through, and hopefully provide a bit of both nourishment and comfort on a chilly evening.
WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH CRISP BACON AND KALE
Ingredients.
1/2 lb. lardons, or bacon roughly chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 dried bay leaf
pinch nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried herbs de provence
6 cups chicken stock, plus an additional 2 cups as needed
3/4 lb. dried Cannellini beans (or 3 14.5oz cans, drained and rinsed)
6 cups coarsely chopped kale
grated Parmesan
Parmesan rind (optional)
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
Directions.
In a non-stick skillet par-cook the bacon – removing it just before it’s completely crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon, setting it on a paper towel lined plate to drain.
Pour about 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease into a large soup pot, adding an addition splash of olive oil. Discard the remainder of the bacon grease, and set the skillet aside for use later.
With the heat at medium, add the onion to the pot and sauté for 7-8 minutes, until the onion is translucent and just beginning to color around the edges. Season with a pinch of salt and fresh pepper.
Add in the garlic and sauté for about one minute, until the garlic is warm and fragrant. Add in the carrot, celery, herbs, onion powder, nutmeg, a bit of salt and pepper, and sauté for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the beans, Parmesan rind, and stock.
Bring to simmer and allow to cook for an hour or so, until the beans are creamy and tender but still have a little bite. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaf and the Parmesan rind.
Ladle the soup into serving bowls.
Reheat the non-stick skillet and add in the par-cooked bacon, this time allowing it to crisp completely. Divide the bacon evenly among the bowls of soup. Leave any bacon grease in the pan.
If needed, add a little olive oil to the pan. With the skillet heat on high, toss in the kale, season with a little salt and pepper, and cook until crisp (like kale chips). Divide the crisp kale among the bowls of soup, top with a bit of grated Parmesan, and a few turns of fresh pepper.
Enjoy immediately.
Serves 6 adults.
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anja_cieri - This looks delicious! ♡Just 3 darling girls ♡
Rebeka - 1. I’m definitely making this soup soon. I found out recently that you can buy parm rinds at Whole Foods, so getting that for sure.
2. Your adventure living abroad sounds so fun, but also really stressful.
2.a. I hope things start to get a little more ordinary before the new babe is here! Sending you guys calm, happy thoughts!!
3. You look fabulous!
4. Glad to see a blog post from you this morning 🙂 xo
Steph - So lovely in every way. Your images, thoughts, evolving perspectives and light….
Sitting on my couch, drinking a hot toddy in your honor and having just one of those moments where I am missing you terribly and equally beyond thrilled you are getting to have this opportunity for you and your family. Through the grace and the grit (and I know there has been quite a heavy load of this), you are soaking in this experience in such a positive light. Sending a huge hug your way. Xoxo