My dashing husband calls these concotions – of rice and beans topped with salsa and pretty much anything he can scrounge in the kitchen thrown in for good measure – “thunder bowls.” He picked up the term when we were traveling in New Mexico and West Texas. Why thunder bowl? My theory is that they are named after the thunderous clap of a fart such a meal can create.
He made me this thunder bowl for lunch the other day. He heated up leftover short grain brown rice that had been cooked in chicken broth and some chickpeas. While those warmed up, he threw together a salsa fresca from all the tomatoes sitting around and chopped a perfectly ripe and amazingly delicious avocado. It was a reminder that sometimes some crap sitting around in the fridge or on the counter can make a crazy delicious meal. It also reminded me of how perfectly lovely it is to have someone cook for you. As I like to tell people who express nerves or concern about inviting me to dinner or otherwise cooking for me: everything tastes better when you didn’t have to make it and people hardly ever cook for me, so it’s a total (and much appreciated!) treat.
A. C. Parker | 23-Sep-10 at 5:10 am | Permalink
Molly, I laughed so hard when I read your hypothesis on whence the name “thunder bowl”! That was exactly what I needed this morning. (Not the fart-clap, the laughter.) There’s a lot of crap in my fridge right now, so maybe some thunderous mishmash will be my lunch.
Molly Watson | 23-Sep-10 at 12:29 pm | Permalink
Happy to oblige, Allison. My own weird mish-mash of a lunch today was some leftover “modern” green bean casserole (can you say “Thanksgiving recipe development?”), pieces of stale homemade fougasse, the last bit of plain yogurt, and a few chocolate-covered dried cherries. Nutritional!
Dawn Blume-Hawkes | 24-Sep-10 at 12:45 pm | Permalink
Ok, my favorite too; “It was a reminder that sometimes some crap sitting around……”
This post was especially entertaining, as my husband is reigning “king”, (sounds like your husband could capture this title soon – I’d better watch the hubs back on this one) of the bizarre, but delicious concoctions.
Humor in food – gotta love it!
molly | 24-Sep-10 at 3:14 pm | Permalink
ha! i can’t decide which i love more, the meal or the etymology. either way, i’m sold.
sarah henry | 30-Sep-10 at 6:20 am | Permalink
A “thunder bowl” is what I call “all in” — as in throwing together whatever you have hanging around. I consider myself a bit of an expert at making a meal from “nothing” (A challenge from my student days.)
My only quibble with this amusing anecdote: That food your dashing hubbie threw together is definitely not crap. Red Hot Doritos = Crap. But I look at that photo and I see the ingredients for a tasty and nourishing lunch, made for you by a caring spouse, no less.
How uncrappy is that?
Molly Watson | 30-Sep-10 at 7:40 am | Permalink
As I’ve mentioned before here, I have an inner haus frau who takes deep pleasure is the frugal use of foodstuffs. Just did it again last night. My dashing husband claimed there was nothing for dinner, but, of course, there was. AND I’m eating the leftovers right now – haus frau victory lap!