a quick update on frank and ethel

y'all remember frank and ethel, right? the couple i told y'all about earlier this month? well, at least one of them came to the library yesterday. i missed seeing them, sadly, b/c i was working in the back and the one co-worker who knows about my attachment to frank & ethel wasn't around to alert me to their presence. i'm just glad that they're well enough to come check out books. hopefully i'll see them next week and i can stop worrying (as much) about them.

recipe review: white bean soup with sausage and collards

funny thing about tonight's dinner. when i was flipping through recipes and making my grocery list last night for something to do with the italian sausage i had in the freezer, i initially decided on this one. once i started reading through it in detail, though, i noticed that the recipe had its origins in another recipe. upon further review, i decided to go with the latter recipe b/c there was nothing about it that i didn't like, and updated my grocery list accordingly.

no frozen collard greens at the store, so i used a 16oz bag of frozen cut leaf spinach instead. i added about a teaspoon of minced garlic and used seasoned salt (i eyeballed it, so i can't give you a measurement on that one) instead of regular salt/pepper. i skipped the red wine vinegar b/c i didn't have any on hand. oh, and i used chicken stock instead of water.

this soup never really reached the "slightly thickened" stage for me. still nom, mind you, but i was looking for a thicker consistency and it just didn't happen. maybe i should've (s)mashed more of the beans? i dunno. there's enough leftovers for my lunch tomorrow and at least 1-2 more meals after that, so maybe it'll set up more while in the fridge and it won't be as, well, soupy. :P

recipe review: smothered green beans with new potatoes

i was making my grocery list for the week and noticed that green beans were on sale, so i searched my files and found this recipe. i decided to make it tonight to go with some chicken thighs i'd planned on baking.

of course i had to make a few substitutions. i used matilda beer bacon b/c that's what i had in the fridge. (note: if you're in chicago, you can buy a pack at provenance - i got mine at the lincoln square location, but i'm sure their logan square shop also carries it.)

back to the substitutions/additions, though - the aforementioned beer bacon, 1 large onion instead of 2 medium ones, a 1.5 pound bag of baby red potatoes that i diced up, and i added about a teaspoon of minced garlic b/c y'all should know by now that i like to add garlic to things.

verdict? there was still quite a bit of liquid left at the end of the cooking process, even after i adjusted the heat from medium to medium high to just shy of high b/c i didn't want anything to burn. in terms of taste and texture, though, it almost reminded me of my childhood. green beans and potatoes weren't as big a staple as, say, collard greens, but they were definitely present. i don't remember bacon being involved, though; i think daddy used ham hocks or maybe smoked turkey in a nod to "healthier" cooking. in short: nom. and i'll have leftovers for at least the next day or two, which was all part of my plan.

here's a little story that needed to be told

this is a story about frank and ethel. i should note at the outset that frank and ethel are not their real names, but that's how i'm going to refer to them here.

frank and ethel are a couple of regulars at the library. i usually see them at least once a week, almost always on fridays. it might sound weird to refer to someone as a "regular" at a library, as opposed to, say, at a bar like in the book i finished reading earlier tonight, but we get them.

but back to frank and ethel. they usually show up together. ethel & i pretend to give frank grief for having a higher fine on his card, even when it's ethel's fault. they both pretend to butcher my name and blame it on the fact that they're old and senile. they're not that old, really - i'd put them at early 70s at the most.

when i start my friday shifts, my co-workers have become accustomed to me asking if frank and ethel have been in yet. if frank & ethel are in line and i'm helping someone, they'll wait until i'm available so we can have our few minutes of banter. they're adorable, really, in that way that folks who know each other well and are totally comfortable with each other can be. when you compare them to some of our other regulars, you get why frank and ethel are a couple of my favorites.

i mentioned that they're in almost every friday, right? i can count on one hand the number of times ethel's shown up by herself, the most recent of which was earlier this year when it seemed like everyone in the greater chicago area had the plague. frank was sick, ethel said, so she made the trip solo. i jokingly demanded frank's presence the following week so i could see for myself that he was ok...and next week, they were both there. i smiled.

a couple of weeks ago, i was at work on a friday and realized that the afternoon had gone by w/o a visit from frank & ethel. i shrugged it off - it was cold and maybe they decided to skip that week. i even asked around to see if they'd come in while i was on break, but they hadn't. (i did mention that frank & ethel are a couple of my favorite regulars, right?)

this past friday, i was talking with a co-worker about another regular of ours, and realized that frank & ethel hadn't come in again. it wasn't like them to miss 2 weeks in a row. vacation, i rationalized. or maybe the weather. i was concerned, and by the end of the night, my co-worker decided that it wasn't weird at all for me to be concerned about a couple i barely know. regulars. they do that to you.

this morning, i was at work and took a call from someone who'd found a book of ours and was wondering if we could get in touch with the patron and let them know about it. a quick search and guess what? the book was checked out to frank! where was this good samaritan calling from? the hospital. apparently frank had been admitted (and released, thankfully) and left the book behind.

i was sad and relieved at the same time. sad b/c frank had been ill, relieved b/c he was both out of the hospital and b/c now i knew (or at least could speculate with some basis in reality) why he and ethel had been missing from the library.

when i got a free moment, i called frank & ethel to let them know about the book. i wound up leaving a message for them, and at the end, i wished them both well and let them know that i missed seeing them. b/c i did. i do. b/c this is what happens when you have regulars. when you make a connection, however tenuous, with a couple of strangers that you see on a regular basis. you miss them when they're not around. you get worried when you don't see them.

and then you feel weird for being slightly more concerned about a couple of strangers than some folks you've known forever. and you try to get over it with all kinds of explanations that, if you're going to be honest with yourself, ring kinda hollow.

and then you find yourself missing some other regulars in your life for various reasons, and you try not to admit to missing them and worrying about them b/c, really, wtf is that going to prove anyway?

but this isn't about you (ok, me). this is a story about frank and ethel, and how i'm hoping they'll come into work on friday and i can pretend to lecture them about staying away w/o giving me a heads-up, and how i'm hoping they'll tell me that it was nothing serious, and we'll joke about frank's fines and promise to see each other the following week. b/c that's how frank and ethel would want it, and who am i to interrupt the flow of regulars?