god and sandwiches

i got a present

 

profundity in the woods in the late part of a Sunday afternoon. not many leaves left here, and not many aspens in a conifer forest, and not many sunbeams in a mostly east-facing canyon and yet! one tree with the lights in it. right in front of me.

we are not always this lucky - to have something so close to a blessing ring and shine at us. but, when the conditions are right: solitude is certain, quietness abounds, light blows and bends in the sky, stillness  radiates from the walking body (however that seems to happen), the mind is unfurled, reaching and open, well, you can be struck like a bell if you put yourself out there.

and so often such profundity is a flash and a retina burn. but for me, on this walk, it wasn't. it was long and drawn out and dreamlike. and i wavered like the autumn grasses myself, rooted to the spot but also surging away from myself, squinting into the blown beacon of one lit and gilt aspen tree as if the only thing in the world that mattered was my standing there, in muddy clogs, with a snarled braid zipped partially into my jacket, with numb fingers and a dry mouth wondering if Divinity could be so powerful and also so mundanely present in the regular world. 

i should say i am not usually moved by a thing so electric and huge as some people call God. but i do, absolutely and surely, believe in the large and complex plans of the Universe. i like that the Universe lets you in to those plans sometimes, and sometimes shocks you to your marrow, and then lets you carry on and maybe get startled by not one, not two but three pairs of moose later on the walk that force you to run back to the car for fear of being flattened. i like that, because i feel at once small and immensely relevant (though still weak and inconsequential.)

after the present i felt i should give back and so, because we had a nice heap of eggs, and some lovely growing things and (importantly) a nice velvety square of cheese i made a magical and lit up sandwich in honor of the Golden Tree.

mostly the stain of these beets is what revved me up. like egg yolks. steamed them in their paper thin jackets, a few drops of water and some salt in a warm oven.

 

caramelized some onions with fennel, thyme and himalayan salt 

 

scarped out the onions, added a thick slice of butter and this mountain of spinach and beet greens

 

meanwhile charring some poblano peppers from the market on a spare burner (the crackling smoke was green, how strange.) tipped in 5 eggs whisked with a little cream and some salt and pepper and cooked it over low until it pulled away form the skillet and rose high at the edges 

 

rubbed some sourdough bread with garlic and toasted under the broiler 

 

dotted the frittata with a few nuggets of saint andre, and finely chopped up one last, and very soft, yellow tomato and...

   

voila! add a tangle of parsley and there is a sandwich fit to honor a glowing tree.