On the Vine

We got a cookbook for Christmas from a family member we love and last night we made the Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Gouda and it was DELICIOUS. I felt happy for the connection to our family, even weeks later in different houses and happy for a new recipe that will rotate in to our family favorites and my kids will keep loving for years to come. The leftover tomatoes became my warm up painting today in the studio and I was thinking so much about these tomatoes on the vine connected to each other, about the ways we are connected. So often it’s food that brings us together and sharing recipes can often feel like sharing pieces of yourself. The really good recipes also become stories: who you eat them with, the comfort of a homemade meal on a cold day, which parties you take them to, what you’re known for as a signature dish. I was at a dinner party last week where someone brought a delicious cheesecake he makes often for parties and he doesn’t even like cheesecake. It’s a labor of love for other people, a kindness to those he’s eating with. I brought my mom’s favorite brownies to a party a couple weeks ago with friends and they loved them, so I shared the recipe. Connection. Comes in lots of ways, sometimes through a soup recipe.