This month, during the peak of my hibernation season, inertness took a bit of a toll and I’ve become painfully aware that the tire around my waist is growing. I can feel all the fat and starch I’ve been scarfing down following my lead: settling in and getting a little too comfortable. At this point, rather than working out, I’ve begun steaming more food, visiting the steam room at women’s spas, and eating more greens. Lucky for me, January brings an abundance of kale, which is high on my list of favorites and easy to work into my feeding routine—a big sautéed mound for lunch here, a generous handful thrown into soup there, and baked into eggs whenever.
The braised greens at Vios Cafe & Marketplace seem simple enough—a beautiful, soft, folded pile of dark-green chard dotted with white garlic slices, slick with olive oil, served warm with a wedge of lemon—but each time I have them they blow me away with their deliciousness. If I could, I’d bathe in them. I’ve picked up the braised greens to go and reheated them, and also tried recreating them, but it’s just not the same as having them piping hot in one of Vios’s comforting wooden window booths. Conveniently, I can count the walk down there and back as exercise.
