By 2018. The divorce will be finalized this month. The lead tech position starts January 16. The reconstruction consultation is in two weeks. Everything is beginning at once, a pileup of new starts that feels less like a fresh chapter and more like a highway merge — multiple lanes of life converging and requiring me to accelerate and signal and not hit anything.
Kyle and his family left on January 2. The goodbye was brief — Kyle doesn't do long goodbyes, the Army trained that out of him — but he hugged me at the door and said, "You're going to be fine, Heather," and I said, "I know," and he said, "I mean it. You're the toughest one of us," and I said, "Brett would argue," and he said, "Brett would lose," and I laughed and he left and I stood in Mom's doorway and watched his rental car drive away and felt the family contract again, the way it always does when Kyle leaves, like a rubber band snapping back to its regular size after being stretched.
Back in Boise, the routine resumes. School for Mason. Preschool for Lily. Work for me. The kids had a good Christmas with Scott, by all reports — Mason caught no fish (it's January, the lake is frozen, but apparently Scott tried) and Lily saw no horses but was consoled by snow, which she experienced in sufficient quantities to build what she called "a horse out of snow" and what was, from the photo Scott sent, a misshapen white lump with stick legs. Art is interpretation.
I made a New Year's resolution: to cook one new recipe a week. Not new to the world — new to me. Something I've never made. A dish from a cookbook, a recipe from the internet, a technique I've been curious about. Because my cooking has been survival cooking for eighteen months — the ranch recipes, the batch meals, the freezer food, the things my hands make on autopilot. I want to stretch. I want to learn. I want my kitchen to surprise me again.
New recipe #1: shakshuka. Eggs poached in a spiced tomato sauce — cumin, paprika, garlic, peppers. I'd seen it online and it looked like the kind of thing I'd eat in a different life, a more adventurous life, but now I'm making it in my own kitchen and the eggs are setting in the sauce and the kitchen smells like North Africa or the Middle East or wherever this dish comes from, and it's delicious, and Mason tried it and said, "It's spicy but I like it," and Lily ate around the eggs and declared the sauce "too red," and it was new and different and mine.
That first shakshuka was the beginning of something — proof that my kitchen could be more than survival mode, that I could reach for flavors I’d only scrolled past before. New recipe #2 leaned into that same Mediterranean pull: Israeli couscous tossed with roasted vegetables, bright lemon, fresh herbs. It felt like the kind of meal that belonged in my new life — the one where everything is converging and I’m learning to accelerate into it instead of braking.
Israeli Couscous Salad with Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Israeli (pearl) couscous
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 medium zucchini, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 small eggplant, diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges
- 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
- 1/4 cup Kalamata olives, halved (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 425°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roast the vegetables. Toss the zucchini, bell peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and garlic with 2 tablespoons olive oil, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Spread in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Roast for 25–30 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until vegetables are tender and lightly charred at the edges.
- Cook the couscous. While the vegetables roast, bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the couscous, stir, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 8–10 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the couscous is tender. Fluff with a fork and transfer to a large bowl.
- Make the dressing. Whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, and red wine vinegar in a small bowl.
- Combine. Add the roasted vegetables to the couscous. Pour the dressing over everything and toss gently to combine. Fold in the parsley, mint, and olives if using.
- Finish and serve. Top with crumbled feta. Taste and adjust salt as needed. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 285 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 42g | Fiber: 5g | Sodium: 410mg