71°f, about 20°C, and 90% humidity. Foggy and overcast.
Rabbit, rabbit rabbit! Happy September!
We had several good storms yesterday, just a lovely rainy day. What a blessing. The ground soaked up every bit of it; there was little run-off. The green is returning rapidly, although the ground is littered with dead fallen leaves. We have a possibility of more showers today and later this week, so perhaps the back of the drought is broken. We shall see.
I spent a little time in the kitchen yesterday, using up the last of the tomato boom by making a Mexican tomato sauce to use in Mexican rice, enchiladas, etc. I made some of that rice, enough for dinner and to freeze several packages for those days when I have no time to cook. It really is delicious.
And the rest of the day I spent reading. My new book is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. So far i am enjoying the tale, which curiously enough starts out in a bookshop--a continuation of bookshop tales, it seems, since I had just finished The Mayfair Bookshop. Then last night we re-watched The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a story about a book club hastily formed during the Nazi occupation of the island of Guernsey, an English Channel island that is actually closer to France than it is to England. A young author goes to the island after the war to visit the book club, and becomes deeply involved in a mystery. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it.
A few days ago, AC wrote about the most memorable food he had ever eaten. His post was certainly interesting, and got me thinking, what are my most memorable meals, or food? And goodness, there have been many. So here are a few.
Probably the most memorable is the baps: (sandwiches) Larry and I shared in that prehistoric underground domed hut in Carn Euny, Cornwall. It was a rainy day, and no one else was visiting the historic site while we were there. It was easy to imagine the early people cooking and eating in that shelter, and as I touched the stones I wondered, who was the last person to touch them?
On that same trip, the very same day in fact, we stopped at a little cafe at Hellsmouth for hot tea and a cake. The wind at Hellsmouth was intense, and we were cold to the bone. Never has tea tasted so good!
Another memory: we had arrived in Dublin, after an overnight flight, gotten our rental car and drove straight across Ireland. Halfway across the country, we were desperate for breakfast and pulled into a pub. It turned out that the place had just opened, and didn't serve breakfast anyway. We must have looked so forlorn, because the man tending the bar went and got the owner, who lived in the attached cottage, and she rustled up hot tea, fried eggs, delicious toast, bacon and sausages. A bad photo, but I swear it was the best breakfast I have ever eaten. It was 1:00 pm by then, and look, Larry had Guinness with his breakfast!
On that same drive: we arrived at our airbnb, and were immediately pulled inside by our host, Carmel, who made hot tea and coffee in her kitchen. We sat at the long trestle table and talked and talked! Her daughter was making brown bread and pumpkin soup on the Aga stove (fueled with peat) and invited us to stay for dinner. What deliciousness. I have tried and failed to make that same soup. We remain friends with Carmel to this day.
More memories: the incredible meal at an Italian restaurant in Boston during a storytelling conference. I was invited by a book publisher friend, and joined about a dozen others at the table. Course after course appeared, each accompanied by a different wine. Such foods I have never tasted before or since--wild boar, truffles, so much more. I think there were at least 7 courses, and we were there for 4 and a half hours. What a night.
And the same publisher invited me to dinner in Seattle where I was attending a library conference. This time it was Cedar plank salmon, in a restaurant on the water.
So many memories! There are many more, perhaps enough for another post? This one is long enough!
...rain is an amazing gift when you haven't had any for awhile.
ReplyDeleteYes. I have complained in the past about touch rain, and will probably do so again in the future, but with a nervous glance over my shoulder in case the gods should hear me!
DeleteGlad to read you got rain finally. Hope there's more to come.
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed all of Diane Setterfield's books. And the Guernsey Literary ... is one of my all time favorites but I didn't like the movie because they changed the characters a bit and the ending. Want to read another book about bookstores look for The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. It was an incredible tale involving time travel.
It has been so long since I read the book, I can't remember it, Marcia. And like you, I would probably be disappointed. Like Cold Sassy Tree, such a great book but the movie failed miserably to capture it. I will look for the one you recommend. I am not usually a fan of time travel, but who knows? I might like this one!
DeleteBlessed rain. My dad and mom talked so much of the 1930s drought in the Midwest, that I never complain about too much rain. Of course, we are not in a flood plain.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post about memorable meals! I will think on that subject!
So glad rain has been coming your way. Loved the Guernsey Literary Society...the book was fantastic with the letters, and an audio version with different readers for each letter writer.
ReplyDeleteRain is wonderful healing thing for the garden, however it brings me aches and pains! Thank you for sharing your happy memories.
ReplyDeleteI have read "The Thirteenth Tale" and the "Gurnsey..." and enjoyed them both. However, I have not seen the movie. Glad you finally got some rain.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful food memories, hard to forget when you enjoyed them so much. Glad to hear that you got more rain. Enjoy your brand new week.
ReplyDeleteI studied the radar maps and it did occur to me that you should see rain. I am pleased that you did.
ReplyDeleteI know that cafe at Hell's Mouth - the tea tastes good when you're walking the Coastal path as well. But the most memorable meal was on that same coast but further up in Somerset. I was leading a group of walkers along a stretch which overlooks beautiful Porlock Bay - except on that day everything was shrouded in thick fog. Fog along that coast can last for days, but for some reason I decided to stop the group there and we ranged ourselves along the hillside to eat our packed lunches. Just as we had got comfortable the mist rose, like a curtain in the theatre, revealing the whole bay, the rooftops of Porlock and the hills beyond.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the vignettes of food and visits in this post. It is, indeed, fun to look back and I frequently do. Too frequently, according to the offspring.
ReplyDeleteI must have missed the AC food post. How annoying. I am about to go and dig it up. Fave foods have to have pride of place.
Your memories are much more exotic than mine. I remember that movie and MAY have read the book too. I can't be sure, though.
ReplyDeleteYour tale of that Italian meal reminded me of one Thanksgiving many years ago when I was dating an Italian girl and she invited me to have dinner with her family. Dinner was served at a long table surrounded by people speaking mostly Italian and, like your meal, it went on for hours with more and more food brought to the table. Everything was accompanied by wine her father had made from grapes he grew in his yard. We ran low on wine sometime and I went with her brother to his house to fill more bottles with wine from his barrels in his basement. So much food, so much wine, so much joy. I've never forgotten it.
ReplyDeleteSo glad for your rain. Enjoyed all your stories of memorable meals!! Happy memories.
ReplyDeleteYour opening line about Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit is familiar, but I cannot place it....
ReplyDeleteThat pub-story made me smile soooo big! Hot day here, off to the balcony.
ReplyDeleteI have had some memorable meals in my day, but I am afraid the memories fade quickly. If there was especially convivial company or some significant event I tend to remember that, but not the food.
ReplyDelete