This month I've done something that seemed almost unthinkable four months ago: I resigned from my job of more than a decade! While I was really very happy there, something new and intriguing popped up and I felt ready for a change.
My longtime workplace is full of wonderful folks who sent me off with the most thoughtful and personal gift: a cookbook made just for me. It's colour printed and spiral bound, with a picture of everyone on the front and 36 recipes individually contributed by my colleagues. The recipes are variously typed, and handwritten and sometimes even illustrated, with extra little notes to me and tips on how to make them best. I LOVE THIS BOOK.
It was actually Michael who dug into it first, and fast: he picked out one of the more weeknight-friendly meals to cook on my first day at my new job. It's a hearty vegan soup of zucchini and rice that's livened up with lots of lemon, fresh herbs and a dollop of coconut yoghurt. It's something that Elise and Dani make together, and they hand-wrote and diagrammed it out on some cute graph paper. It was such a comfort to come home to, and also very handy to microwave at my new workplace for lunch - by then it almost had the texture of a risotto.
Looks like I've got a 2019 cooking and blogging project all cut out for me.
The Veganator, aka Zucchini Rice Soup
(a recipe shared by Elise and Dani)
1 onion, chopped
1 cup rice (Elise recommends brown, but we started with basmati)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sprig rosemary, stem removed
2L stock
3 zucchinis, grated
zest and juice of 3 small lemons
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of coconut yoghurt per person
lots of chopped fresh mint
nutritional yeast flakes, to taste
Set a very large pot over medium heat and throw in the onion, rice, garlic, rosemary leaves and stock, and cook them for 40 minutes. Add the grated zucchinis until they turn soft.
Add the lemon zest and juice, and season with salt pepper and nooch to taste. Serve garnished with a spoon of coconut yoghurt and plenty of mint leaves.
With colleagues like that, you are bound to miss them. What a wonderful farewell gift. If I were you I would make sure to drop in for a visit during the lab cooking competition - maybe you could be an honorary judge :-) And the soup sounds really lovely. Hope your new job gives some new challenges that you enjoy and some friendly colleagues.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Johanna! There's a good chance that I might still get an invitation to the annual cooking comp. :) The new job is definitely showing the right signs of friendly colleagues and new challenges too.
DeleteThat is the sweetest parting gift I've ever seen!
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