I was planning to post a recipe here late last week, but by the time Friday arrived I had already been sick for two days and found myself floundering on a corner of the couch, trying to be productive but not really getting anywhere. I don’t usually get stick (knock on wood), especially not for an extended period (knock on wood) and I found it difficult to get my mind to match my body in its need to sit still, do very little, and let everything else go.

I know you don’t want to read paragraphs about sickness, especially if it is something you’ve recently experienced yourself. While the blizzard swirled on the east coast, I imagined my friends and family in New England holed up inside while the wind and snow whipped. I continued my position as couch sitter despite the sunny and fairly warm weather outdoors. I started to think that I, too, was trapped inside by the weather and imagined the coziness of baking treats to sustain us through the snowstorm. In reality it wasn’t the weather that had me trapped and I certainly wasn’t up for baking. I had eaten little more than crackers, applesauce and ginger ale for the past few days and even that wasn’t going very well.

When I spoke to my midwife to make sure that I was doing to best I could with the circumstances of this sickness and that I didn’t need to take more drastic measures, she suggested slowly introducing foods.  She said a piece of toast might be nice if I felt up to it. I immediately thought of a soft but crusty bread with dough that stretched and bubbled and baked into a craggy but manageable interior. She mentioned that I could spread a little jam on it, too. Toast with jam! It sounded like a feast.

Toast. So plain, so simple, quite boring and yet always satisfying. The crunchy edges yielding to the tender middle. A piece of bread is good, but toast (especially with jam and butter) is always a treat whether I eat it every day or when I am most in need of reviving.

The toast wasn’t exactly a miracle cure, but it provided much needed sustenance and comfort. Today I feel well rested, so much better, and ready to have a productive week. Still, I couldn’t resist starting my morning with a piece of toast.

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