Scrambled Tempeh and Sticking Around

We've been lucky to have some very special visitors from NM, MA, and WA wander through our halls over the past few weeks. Together, we traded in the ball drop and roc center tree to enjoy chilly bike adventures, neighborhood explorations, and casual conversations. KAM (aromatherapymasterflex) and I were glad to host a relaxed, sweat-pant awarding meal of soups, breads, and fresh fruits for our friends who rolled into the apartment on New Years Day, exhausted from a long night of heel-wearing, cab-chasing, cocktail-mixing, friend-making, eye-linered escapades. I know it is seriously risky to host a dinner the day after New Years Eve, but my fears subsided as the herds filtered in. On the menu: Black-eyed pea soup with tomatoes, Holland Style Split Pea Soup , Baguettes, Apple Spice Cupcakes, Sourdough Loaves, Brussels Sprouts with Red Onion and Apples, Pomegranates, and Oranges.

Another reason to love apartment-guests? Breakfast. I rarely cook breakfast just for myself and it was so great to share this extra spicy and hearty tempeh scramble over some good gossip, coffees, and sprawling papers.

The quality and longevity of relationships has been on my mind, mostly, sustained, devoted, platonic, life-long friendships.Of course, I'm cheating a bit by trying to keep people around by feeding them and tapping into a part of their psyche that associates with survival and sustenance, but it's been meaningful to be a part of this strange family of friends. It's like the article in last week's New Yorker, where Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Wild Flag) says of her good friend, Fred Armisen, “We drove home late and I dropped him off at his hotel. Sometimes I get confused and think, Are we supposed to kiss goodnight? But, the truth is, I don’t want us to kiss, I want us to teach each other how good it can be to stick around.”

NRG