Charles Simic has a poem entitled Weather of the Soul, and to serve it up he writes: if it eases a little, send for the boy... and let him bring [food] under your big umbrella. The butter beans and cherry tomatoes will be prepared gazpacho style, pureed pure in their stock and blended with cucumbers and cantaloupe. Avocado oil will be drizzled after chilling the soup in the fridge, and into the bowl will be a pink plumeria on a basil leaf boat for you to pick carefully and smell, as if delivered by the boy. This is what's imagined in the poem. But the food is real. Real in the sense you have it for lunch, beachfront, with lightly toasted tranches de baguette, served up with a sweet sun tea Meyer lemon. Nutrition plays a part in what taste of goodness brings to your body. These beans are creamy and rich and the tomatoes are sparkly acid, salty and herbaceous, and to sop up a breadful of the soup with your hands to your mouth is an emotional need satisfied bodily but doesn't fill you out. I think Mark Bittman might have said something to that effect of luxurious eating without the guilt and waste. Reversely this dish can be served hot. Add the following to the beans and tomatoes: celery, pumpkin and curly parsley, mashing them all up a la minestrone thick soup. Your preference. But for full dining experience, don't forget about the boy.
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