On the Darkest & Coldest Night

I wonder, how many of you also keep a never-ending, forever-evolving pot of soup on your stovetop? With an early winter, it's easy to take it off the heat, let it cool, and then place it on my deck. When it's time to heat it, I merely bring it in and pop it on the burner again.

This soup started as a simple mushroom with roasted garlic and generous swirls of Gilroy garlic balsamic and lentil pasta. At the last minute, I added handfuls of kale and spinach. Over the past few days, I've tossed in chopped tempeh, endless spices, more mushrooms, additional broth, leeks, turmeric, soy curls, fire-roasted sweet corn, more greens, and more pasta. This morning, a can of chopped tomatoes was included, along with more roasted garlic and a dash of liquid smoke.

That's the beauty of the big soup pot, though, right? You get to keep adding, keep changing, keep it going as a source of comfort and nourishment.

Last night, it was bitingly cold; the first evening I felt it in my bones. We crunched along …