Turkey tails

This has been a whirlwind of a day. My daughter set her alarm for 5:30am so that she could finish her outline about the Renaissance that is due today. She is in 6th grade and has more work ethic than some of these slackers in my undergraduate courses. At 6:30am, my son asked if I’d made the turkey soup. I had never got around to making it and it seemed like Tuesday morning would be my next opportunity to make the soup…then mother guilt swept over me and I dashed downstairs to the kitchen.

Melted butter in the pot; cut up onions and celery…added a bunch of scallions, baby carrots (yes I know that baby carrots are a sham, essentially processed food – second rate carrots cut into uniform shapes, but they’re convenient)…then I decided to add a little garlic and ginger to enhance the flavor…added the liquid, simmered while watching the clock and picking the turkey. I added the turkey and noodles to the pot and started prepping the thermoses…the bus driver was honking…we got outside 6 minutes late with bogus apologies.

I came back in, caught my breath and added a little more liquid…prepared a thermos for my husband and then took my sister to school by 8am. I returned, tidied the kitchen a bit and finally walked out the door at 850am…by the time I gassed up in Audubon, I knew arriving in the Bronx before 11am was not likely.

I must’ve been running on adrenaline. After class, I went to my office to eat my turkey soup – a colleague popped his head out of his office and said “nice smell” when I told him I made it this morning, he was impressed…it smelled wonderful and tasted delicious – the essence of the vegetables really came alive and was assisted by the turkey butt that I threw into the pot. After I finished my soup I went to my car and headed to Harlem to see a 2pm movie. This is when things started unraveling. The Major Deegan was delayed due to an accident on the GW Bridge. I arrived at the theater at 2:10pm but couldn’t find a parking space. I decided to head back to the Bronx…as I was exiting, I had the brilliant idea to go to COSI in New Rochelle.

I think there’s an oxymoron in here…turkey soup connotes slow cookin’ and comfort food. This stunt I pulled today symbolizes this fast paced society that is the fodder for fast food and agribusiness. The Slow Food movement asks us to pause, savor our food, tantalize our tastes, and be ecologically responsible for what we consume.

I just finished my Signature Salad and the procrastination has come to a halt.