By April, and the tenth anniversary of this journal approaches — ten years of weekly entries, ten years of standing at the stove and writing about the standing. The ten years are the life. The life is the ten years. And the number is round and the round-ness is the milestone, and the milestone is the continuation, and the continuation is the practice, and the practice is the love.
Carrie's graduation from Emory is three weeks away. She will walk across a stage in Atlanta and receive a diploma that says "Bachelor of Arts, English and Japanese" and that contains, within its formal language, the story of a girl who was fifteen in a tea ceremony in New York and who is now twenty-three in a cap and gown in Atlanta and who has, in the eight years between the two, become the woman she was always going to be.
The Librarian's Table page proofs have arrived. The book is real — in the same way the cookbook was real when the proofs arrived, the paper-and-ink reality that is different from the screen-and-manuscript reality, the reality that says: this exists. This will be on a shelf. This will be opened by hands.
I visited Joy on Saturday. She is sixty-three now — sixty-three and painting and laughing and eating cobbler with her fingers and living the simple, complete life that Joy has always lived, the life that does not require complication to be sufficient, the sufficiency being Joy's particular genius.
I made she-crab soup — the tenth anniversary approaching, the soup that has been the weekly practice, the soup that is the life. Ten years. Five hundred and twenty Sundays (approximately). Five hundred and twenty bowls. Each one a week. Each week a life. Each life a soup.
She-crab soup is the heart of these ten years — but on a milestone Sunday, the table asked for something more, something that could sit at the center and be shared, the way a decade of writing is ultimately shared. Lobster artichoke dip has that same coastal richness, that same briny warmth that I reach for when the moment is too large for something plain. I made it for the afternoon, for Carrie’s graduation approaching, for Carrie’s book proofs on the table, for Joy’s cobbler-stained fingers and sixty-three years of sufficiency — one warm, abundant dish for all of it.
Lobster Artichoke Dip
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 8 oz cooked lobster meat, roughly chopped
- 1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese, divided
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, for garnish
- Crackers, sliced baguette, or crostini, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 1.5-quart baking dish or a 9-inch cast iron skillet.
- Mix the base. In a large bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise until smooth and well combined.
- Add the filling. Fold in the chopped lobster, artichoke hearts, garlic, lemon juice, Old Bay, red pepper flakes, 3/4 cup of the Gruyère, and the Parmesan. Stir until evenly incorporated.
- Transfer and top. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup Gruyère over the top.
- Bake. Bake for 22—25 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbling around the edges.
- Garnish and serve. Remove from oven, scatter chives over the top, and serve immediately with crackers, baguette slices, or crostini.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 14g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 520mg