Patti Smith and Lettuce Soup

Patti Smith; Poet, singer- songwriter, author, visual artist and the godmother of punk. She was inspiration for my morning breakfast.


Woke up early on my day off to a gloomy day and the perennial breakfast question - sweet or savory?

I decided that it was a good day to try something different, something a bit off- the-wall. 


Breakfast soup!  A Caesar salad soup if you will, with lettuce, egg, parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil and garlic croutons.  Bean was snug as a bug in bed, so I did not have to justify my odd breakfast fare. My bohemian repast.

It gave me the excuse to practice poaching an egg.  In the past year I have had a sudden re-appreciation of eggs.  It's not that easy to make a pretty poached egg.  I broke the egg so that the yolk would run into the broth.


Now you may be wondering- what possible connection is there between Patti Smith and my soup? During lean financial times lettuce soup was a specialty of hers.  Perhaps she was not acquainted with packages of  ramen noodles.  Those 10 for a dollar noodle packs were the center of many students'  meals when I was in my twenties.


I learned about her lettuce soups and anchovy sandwiches during a reading of her book Just Kids which is a memoir of her friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe. Last February, spurred on by a bit of cabin fever Bean and I attended her reading.  I know pathetically little about rock and roll or punk music.  The only groups whose music I can identify, with any degree of success are the Beatles and Rolling Stones.  Bean on the other hand, can not only identify the group, he can name all the members, the producer of the album, any other groups the musicians were involved in etc. A spew of information that usually makes my eyes water and my brain go numb.

I love biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, compilations of letters and it is for this reason I went to the reading.  I hadn't read her book yet; we were on the library's waiting list. Bean grabbed a book for her to sign, The Melodious Mystic. How apropos!  Surely Ms. Smith would not be offended by our lack of her book.  She read, played the guitar, sang, answered  questions and took pictures of the audience. She looked happy.  She seemed relaxed.

                                                                      

                                                                          

Patti Smith scribbled a drawing which she said was Pinocchio, because she always aspired to write a book that was as good as Pinocchio.