Fast; Erwtensoep

Eastside Road, November 30-December 2, 2011—

WEDNESDAY, AFTER TWO WEEKS of indiscretion partly excused by the national feast season that is Thanksgiving, and after having gained a number of pounds, it was time to fast, of course.

Then came two days of erwtensoep. I have to admit that much as I love The Netherlands, its culture and its people, its landscapes and its landscape, and as attracted as I am, even, to its language, I find erwtensoep an impossible word to pronounce. You leave out the "w," of course; but I think you sort of hint at it. "Air-ten-soup" doesn't quite do it justice. That "w" is a palimpsest of Proto-Germanic*, I find after a Google search, and it should be honored though not lingered over.

In any case, it's good old split pea soup. Lindsey fried up a little bit of bacon, then fried onions in it; then made the split pea soup in the usual way — but she'd found some leftover cooked kale in the freezer, and added it in: that, I think, made it Dutch. It was delicious last night, and it was just as delicious again tonight, always with a slice of toasted bread rubbed with un-Dutch garlic floating on top.

Cairanne (Côtes du Rhône), Domaine Catherine le Goeuil, 2009 (a little dull and unforthcoming)

*Proto-Germanic: *arwait=, *arwīt=
Meaning: pea
IE etymology: IE etymology
Old Norse: pl. ert-r f.
Norwegian: ert
Swedish: ärt
Danish: ert
Old Saxon: eriwit, erit f.
Middle Dutch: erwete, aerwete, arwete
Dutch: erwt f.
Middle Low German: erwete, ērt f.
Low German: pl. erwten
Old High German: arawīʒ f. (9./10.Jh.), bair. araweiʒ (10.Jh.) `Erbse, Kichererbse'
Middle High German: arwīʒ, ar(e)weiʒ, er(e)weiʒ, (spät) erbeiʒ st. f. 'erbse'
German: Erbse f.