I'm sitting on the kitchen floor this morning, peeling peanuts. Nilesh roasted them last night, and today gave me the job of de-skinning them, and then chopping them into small, teeny-tiny chunks for use as a topping on various meals throughout the week. Anyway, I'm sitting there, on the floor, listening to NPR, peeling peanuts, and smelling the awesome smell of my vegetable stock simmering on the stove. A story comes on the radio. It's actually part of a series called StoryCorps. This week a group of junior high students in Philadelphia interviewed parents and grandparents of some of the 35 kids murdered in the city this year. It started out alright. I was listening, feeling empathy, and still skinning those peanuts. And then a father said something and his voice broke and I started sobbing. I continued sobbing until the morning hosts came back on the air to ask me for money.

I'm pretty sure this was a hormone induced response, as I've heard pregnant ladies often cry at hallmark commercials, and this was much more powerful than a hallmark commercial. But, the sobbing caused a problem because I had to choose either wiping my eyes and then finding a way to thoroughly dry my hands, OR just let the tears stream and blind me as I peeled away. I was a blind peanut skinner. woot.

As to my lovely smelling vegetable stock. My friend Bek got me started on saving bits of fabulous vegetables in the freezer. Kale spines, skin of carrots, brocoli ends, that chunk of purple cabbage I chopped off because it was a bit wilted, ends of jalepenos and other various peppers... etc. All these bits get tossed into a plastic bag in the freezer until I feel like I've got a pot-full. I add some spices, and simmer the whole she-bang for a couple hours. Let it cool, strain it and then use it to cook something else. Today's something else is going to be some lentil beans and kale. mmmmm. Maybe we can top it with peanuts.