A few years ago, at a book event, I met a tall man who told me how much he enjoyed my writing. He also warned me not to listen to or worry about any criticism of the large number of pasta and bean/lentil/chickpea soup recipes I’ve included over the years, because he for one couldn’t get enough of them; nor could his wife. This started me worrying, of course, and later counting.
The man also offered me some advice in the form of a question, from his mother, who was born in Tehran: “Why add a sprig when you can add a bunch of herbs?” He thanked me again and walked away. And I started to talk to someone else, with his wise but cryptic advice suspended in a cartoon thought bubble. And it stayed there, bubbling up around herbs or pasta and bean soup. Surely he didn’t mean a whole bunch of rosemary?
