Sunday, August 19, 2007

All things wet and wonderful:WITH ADDENDUM

Well, the rest of the Badger Steam and Gas Engine show got drenched. We got over six inches of rain yesterday in places in the county, and a bridge washed out not far from here. This house is safe from flooding, but not everyone is. The southwestern part of the state -- which includes us -- is under a flood watch and a state of emergency. Baraboo got over five inches of rain, and we expect more tonight and throughout the week. The roads in and out of Rock Spring, a small town just west of town, are all under water.

This morning instead of going to Mass, I went to the service at the United Church of Christ over in Baraboo. The pastor treated me to a cup of coffee a couple of weeks ago, and I enjoyed our conversation about life in a small town. I had thought about giving him a call or dropping a note to tell him how much I appreciated it, but decided it would be more polite to show up at his church on a Sunday morning.

Naturally he wasn't there, being off on vacation. I did see some other folks I know, though. Best of all, with the pastor away, they had a hymn sing instead of a sermon, and that was a treat. Oddly enough, we wound up at the end with Away in a Manger, because one of the ladies said that was what her grandmother always sang to her when she went to bed. Someone asked if we were going to all go to sleep. Fortunately no one said that that was what usually happened when the preacher gave his sermon anyway.

For dinner tonight we are having ratatouille (the food, not the animated film). Evelyn and Joe gave me an eggplant, a zucchini, a bell pepper and some tomatoes on Friday. Rataouille uses all those plus an onion, some garlic and seasonings. So I found a crockpot version and made it Friday night. It turns into a chunky sort of vegetable stew, and is one of those foods that is better a day or two later. It should be pretty healthy and tasty with all those fresh, home-grown ingredients. Tonight we will have it over rice. I bought a warm French loaf to go along with it after reheating in the oven.
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ADDENDUM: I have had ratatouille before and liked it, but this one, not so much. It was a standard recipe -- I saw the same thing on a half dozen sites -- but it tasted pretty bland. It actually tasted better cold. Often you serve it hot as a dish and then use the cold leftovers as an appetizer. I think this would have been better cold to start with.

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