A Tale of Cloudy Days and Pastina

So far I think I’ve only seen the sun once in the past two weeks (not an exaggeration). Clouds have been seemingly omnipresent, painting the sky and everything around it grey. Fall is also one of those seasons where trees shed their crimson cloak, to be covered with snow and frost later. This having been said, this also serves as the cue to create the mother of all comfort dishes, pastina. For those readers who aren’t pasta enthusiasts, pastina are tiny star-shaped pasta bits that also are called (rightly so) Italian Penicillin. It was once again a cloudy day, windy, and cold, which prompted me to begin my pastina process. I boiled my favorite broth and let the pasta do its thing, my shades proudly welcoming the monochromatic sky to illuminate my kitchen. Birds, to my surprise, were up and fluttering away at the bird feeder set up specifically for them. Happy chirps and seeds were scattered about my yard as I sat down to my lunch. I happily sipped my steaming soup, my cat hopped up on the chair next to me, purring contentedly over the howling wind. Trees bent and swayed, birds scattered, but here I was, my cat and my little bowl of soup, as a gentle reminder that warmth doesn’t have to come from the sun. We can create it ourselves.