REDEFINING COMFORT FOOD

It was very cold in Washington DC yesterday, and I struggled to stay warm. The day just started off cold. I'm convinced that the heat in church was NOT working. I took the metro home after church, and it, too, was cold. As I did chores yesterday afternoon, I warmed up, but never did I have the sense of being warm and comfortable. So as the sun set and temperatures outside became to dip even lower, I started thinking about dinner. A warm dinner; something comforting; something that would require me to turn on the oven; something that would be piping hot; something that would warm me to the core.

I started to make a mental list of possibilities: grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup, chili, white chili, homemade veggie soup with garlic toast. It all sounded so good.

As I was constructing my list, David called. He had been out helping a lady from our church set up a computer. He'd been there since right after church (hence my taking the metro home), and he was hungry. He wanted to cook dinner for us and was interested in knowing whether or not I felt like having fish. FISH? Not what I think of as a comfort food, but knowing how much David loves to cook and having heard the magic words "mashed potatoes" also come out of his mouth, I agreed to his fish dinner.

About forty minutes after David returned home, he produced this...



It is poached cod wrapped in chard with carrots and radishes. It is served atop homemade mashed potatoes and beside steamed spinach. Around the edge of the plate is a ginger yogurt sauce, which was magnificent.

Needless to say, my definition of comfort food changed after last night's meal. I was warmed by the fish and the mashed potatoes met my need for something hardy and warm. The ginger yogurt sauce could have been a meal unto itself. It is great when David just does his thing in the kitchen. He never disappoints and is constantly surprising me with new recipes and food presentations. As we sat down to dinner, I was extremely grateful not to be eating vegetable soup.