23 Comments
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Mary Peabody's avatar

There will be a lot of comfort food consumed in the coming weeks. Tonight it’s meatloaf.

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Arkansas Blue's avatar

Weeks? The coming four years.

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Marliss Desens's avatar

With the steep tariffs, there will also need to be some creative cookery over the next four years.

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Michelle Jordan's avatar

It looks delicious and I’m imagining an olfactory realization that it has an aromatic and savory flavor.

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Susan MacNeil, PhD's avatar

What a beautiful story told with depth, wisdom, joy and pain. I feel like the idea of “comfort food” has wonderously changed in meaning for me now. Along with this mouth watering recipe.

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Bonnie L's avatar

I love Jamie’s writing…so happy to see her here on The Contrarian. ❤️ I will definitely be making her harira, perhaps with a few tweaks: merguez sausages I’ve had in the freezer since summer, and canned tomatoes. Concessions to wintry New England.

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John Paul's avatar

What a beautifully written piece, Jamie. And yes, it’s the perfect antidote for our collective grief.

This is a gorgeous dish, and I wish it was in front of me right now. 💙

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KnockKnockGreenpeace's avatar

Thanks for the origin of "comfort food." I studied Cervantes in college and didn't pick up on this milestone of terminology, probably because I read him in Spanish, and my Spanish was not stellar. What's interesting about that dynamic is that I did get insights that I otherwise would not have in an English translation, so all was not lost.

And look how Quijote persists as a philosophical touchstone, to this day. And a cautionary tale that the general electorate appears not to have absorbed. Spanish Inquisition, anyone?

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Cheryl Adcock's avatar

I’m so happy to see you here Jamie!

I’ll be trying this soon.

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Marliss Desens's avatar

I will be making my healthier version of my mother's Hamburger Stroganoff this weekend. I also plan to bake.

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Flower Child's avatar

Love this piece. Thank you Jamie💖

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Joreen Kelly's avatar

My comfort food comes from a childhood fed by people who survived a Depression, wars, and times of hunger, so it's also economical. One meal can be stretched by adding ingredients to make new dishes so nothing is wasted. Cooking like my ancestors got me through Covid.

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Lance Wyeth's avatar

Discomfort precedes the need for comfort food and comfort places to occupy. My Service dog Bryn Faerytale brings me to a world which is tolerable. I follow Aussies on Instagram, now more often rather than read the news. When it looked like Frump was going to win again I built Club Bug. I call my wife, a Nurse Practitioner, Bug, well she is petite. Club Bug is a 16 x 24 building with a covered deck, Hot tub, benches, changing room and Sauna. Post reading the news in the am, closing my eyes and slowly shaking my head I go to Club Bug for a Hot Tub. Bryn tags along and lays on the Heat Mat (2 degrees this am). In the evening post realizing the day got worse I take a Sauna. Bryn accompanies me and lays down by the Sauna door so she can keep an eye on me. She is not sure of my sanity when I go outside and dump ice cold water on me and return for another round of heat and steam followed by additional ice absolution. Bug usually accompanies me, but she is in Tanzania to view the honesty of real predators.

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Maria McCabe's avatar

This looks delicious and will be on the menu this week.

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Emily Ryan's avatar

This is delicious. Thank you for the tasty recipe!

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Joanne Farrell's avatar

I made this recipe with beef today, & it was delicious. My husband, who is not an adventurous eater & has a low tolerance for spices, even had 2 bowls of it. Thank you for some much-needed comfort!

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Jeremy Shapiro's avatar

But will we be able to afford or buy it??

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Kathleen Alioto's avatar

Your being so precise

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