bits of string too short to use

We’re finding it incredibly hard to feed ourselves the way we want. It’s not, as many think, because food is so expensive or we’re so short on time, but because we have a perspective on cooking that impedes our getting real value from our ingredients, or the most from our time.

On Thanksgiving, though, we get it right. We look forward to aspects of our dinner lasting past the pleasant, evening-shuttering pumpkin pie and pecan-apple crisp. In every bird we rub with butter and sage, we see a savory roasted carcass, halfway to being soup. As we scoop sweet potatoes from their papery skins into a bowl to mash, we see a glimmer of the weekend’s bubbling leek-sweet potato pudding. We happily acknowledge that things often taste better the next day; that leftovers don’t need to be reheated, but transformed; and that the transformation is fun, a chance to be creative without having to start from square one. We see in everything we buy and cook the promise of leftovers, and the makings of meals to come.