Chard; soup

Eastside Road, Healdsburg, December 18, 2008—

THE NIGHTS HAVE DROPPED to the mid-twenties, but the chard endures, like a character in a Faulkner novel. Some of the leaves are elephantine; others mignonnes. Lindsey chopped them up and steamed them with a little crushed garlic; with the chard, toast rubbed with raw garlic and drizzled with olive oil. Afterward, a bowl of soup from the other night. Winter fare.

Côtes de Rhone, "Cuvée selectionée Kermit Lynch", 2006