My sister sent our father and I a few pictures of our old home when she discovered it had been condemned.

This was the last home we all shared, where we spent the last years of our childhood and the first year of our co-independence. The pictures showed flame-licked walls and boarded windows and the official notice that the home will never again be inhabited.

I could see by the boarded windows in the background that the neighboring home had suffered a similar fate. The many years of renting families revolving through the property had no doubt inflicted damage, but the final nail seems to have been a kitchen fire.

We talked about how different the place looks in those pictures from our memories. The driveway needed to be repaved when we were living there, and from the look of the grass growing through the familiar giant cracks, it’s clear that never happened.

The house still had the same paint, a generic sea foam green, now speckled with water rot and mold. The one tree in the tiny green yard was now just a sad stump in wet dirt. It was sad to see. I wish it would have stayed a memory.

In the many years since we left our last family home, it fell into disrepair and rotted where it stood, but the three of us have moved on. We have all lived many lives in that time and I’m sure the house wouldn’t recognize us if we were to pay it a visit … we are nothing like those pink-cheeked girls off to prom anymore.

I believe that houses hold memories, and I hope the memory of our time there comforts it during its final, painful days.

When I lived there, I didn’t know how to cook, and I wasn’t much of an adventurous eater, but I have improved since then. This chickpea lentil and spinach curry would have been intimidating to my ramen-loving 19-year-old self, but I promise it is just as comforting as dad’s biscuits and jam and isn’t as difficult as it seems.

Chickpea lentil and spinach curry

Ingredients:

1 small yellow onion

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 inches fresh ginger, minced

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon coriander

1 tablespoon turmeric

1 tablespoon curry powder

¼ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/3 cup red lentils

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can chickpeas

2 cups vegetable stock

½ cup lite coconut milk

2 cups baby spinach

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt to taste

Directions:

Saute the onion in neutral oil in a large saucepan (or wok) until translucent.

Add in the minced ginger and garlic and cook 3 minutes.

Dump in all the dried spices except for the garam masala and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 more minutes.

Pour in the can of tomatoes and the vegetable stock and stir to combine.

Bring to a boil before stirring in your rinsed lentils, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rinse the chickpeas before adding to the pot.

Continue cooking until the lentils are soft, then add the coconut milk and garam masala.

Return to a boil before dropping in the spinach. Stir until the spinach wilts, then turn off the heat.

Add the lemon juice then taste and season with salt if desired.

Serve with steamed basmati rice and plain yogurt.