Make Pea Soup

Prose & Comments: Slow down and find home

You know so many of our lives, well, they take place in what I call a fog. So our life is so fast and furious it's hard to have clarity at a time or to really see and feel and know, to hear it. So much of our lives, well, it takes place in the shadow or echo, but there are times, there are days when, for whatever reason, well, they just take on a light, clarity and Suddenly you feel like you know, you know, you get it. And still one of the thoughts that I think we have is that you know it's really simple. How did I forget that? How did I not know this? Or how did I not live this?

One of those mornings for me, a morning that literally took on meaning in terms of fog and light, fog and shadows, clarity, was a morning where I got up, and I had taken my shower, gotten myself dressed, and I was now scooting around the bedroom, and being a husband, what I was doing was that I was trying to huff and puff loud enough so that I would wake up my then-wife Chris so that I could blame her for why I could not find my keys.

And I remember kind of slamming drawers and going through things to make sure that she could hear me. And I was getting more and more frustrated and finally she sat up in bed and said, “If you’re looking for your keys, you’ve got them in your mouth.”

I said thank you and just hoped that I would get out of there soon enough that she would not add any commentary. I remember getting in the car and I made sure that I had all of my papers; I was on my way to Commack to a presbytery meeting of the education committee and I was to present a plan for a fall youth retreat and a spring adult retreat.

Now I will readily admit I have never been light on ego. And so I approached this meeting and my presentations with the belief that this would be not only the highlight of the meeting but there was really no purpose for the meeting unless I showed up. And I had my notes, I was all ready to go, I was reviewing what I was going to say, and I knew that I could be impressive in both the fall retreat and the spring retreat.

I remember getting out to Montauk Highway and all of a sudden there was a fog off the ocean that was like one of those English fogs, you know those pea soup fogs, really milky white, and you cannot see anything. I am now going about 15 mph and I am realizing that the likelihood of my making the meeting was slim to none. Of course I did what most men do at that time, which is to completely panic. And get angry. And I remember hitting the steering wheel, I was so frustrated.

Really Healthy: Recipe for A Summer Slowdown I The Magazine of Yoga

Swimming holes, screened porches, jigsaw puzzles, rocking chairs, pies on the windowsill: these are the old-fashioned icons of summer. Shelling peas is a pastime about as contemporary as darning socks, but it is finally summer!

I say, give in to the nostalgia.

Grab a chair and sit on a screened porch, or on the back steps in the shade. If you are alone, you can give yourself the gift of a pea meditation. Listen to the friendly pop of the tip of the pod as you squeeze it open to extract the treasures inside, neatly lined up. Those perfect peas are a wonder of nature! The vague velvety down on the surface of the shells, not quite peach fuzz, sticks to your fingers a little. You will notice the plop, plop, plop of each pea as it drops into the bowl on your lap.

Now three pounds of peas can take a while to work through. If you have a companion, you can dish and shuck and indulge in another type of experience. It will go faster, but the point is, don’t be in a hurry. It is summer. Is there a better time for slowing down?

English peas are essentially the garden variety of plump, deep green pods that must be shelled; the pods are tough and stringy, not good for eating. However, they can be used to make pea stock, particularly nice for this soup. Place the empty pea pods in a pot with some chopped tough, green scallion ends and a handful of parsley. Add a little white wine (1/2 to 1 cup) if you happen to have some, and cover with water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Strain, season with salt and use in the soup.

This classic fresh pea soup is as delicate and light as early summer. You could serve it hot, warm, or cold in coffee cups before the barbecue blow-out on the Fourth of July to keep the hungry hordes happy before the main course comes off the grill. The recipe can be doubled if you want to make more. Be sure to save some for yourself for lunch or for a snack.

I won’t lie to you; you could also use frozen peas. But that’s a different experience altogether.

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