When you cut it, mama, save me a slice

I can't stop tongueing the smooth gold crown. My mouth is perplexed by this metal presence, curious as to whether it will really work as satisfactorily in grinding up plant matter and such. My brain is amused at my robot mouth.

Therapy was cancelled today (not by me) and I was going to attend yoga instead, but I worked out intensely yesterday and my back is slightly swollen because of it. So I'm staying indoors, with an ice pack, and writing and cooking instead. Mostly cooking, but I will push out some pages during my waiting times.

On the menu for today:

Ham, Potato and Chard Soup. Based on Portuguese kale and potato soup, but using up the hambone and remnants.
Sweet Potato Spoon Bread. As recommended by drinkasyoupour.
Bourbon Berry Pie. My own concoction, inspired by the movie Waitress. Though I suppose I should really then name it something like Fighting January Doldrums Pie.

This is a bit ambitious for my usual stylings, doing all three of these things at once, though none of them are particularly complicated. I have faith.

At least until I come back here a few hours later and change the name to Crying in the Kitchen Pie.

Follow-up Report

Ham, Potato and Chard Soup: At one point while steaming the swiss chard, the water was really really red and I got kinda excited that when I added the potatoes, it would be PINK SOUP. But it wasn't. Its just a regular stewy soup color and texture. Its somewhat tasty. Nothing amazing that I will be replicating exactly, but I might adjust it. I will eat this pot all and enjoy it. Plus there's lots of leafy greens in it, so it feels healthy, despite all the ham and ham broth.

Sweet Potato Spoon Bread: This wasn't the consistency I thought it would be at all. I thought it would be like bread pudding. This was more like twice-baked sweet potatoes with leeks sauteed in butter and goat cheese. Um, delicious. This I will be making again.

Bourbon Berry Pie: Its the best cobbler of my life. Which is a nice way of saying, I didn't adjust the thickener accordingly so its super super juicy and runny. Which means I am eating it all up with a spoon in a bowl. Even so, I'm proud of my first homemade pie crust. Mark Bittman did not fail me!

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Speaking tangentially of food, dommeyourass saw a commercial the other day where a group of guys travel to the next town over to eat Popeye's because there isn't one near them. I think someone at their ad agency was reading our blogs about Chick-Fil-A.