Bring on the rain

From WIPs

There are few things in life better than a cup of tea and some knitting on a rainy afternoon, and I had the luxury of both this week. After months of constant unending sunshine, the rains have finally moved it. Normally, I'm an optimistic realist. I enjoy looking on the brighter side of things, but as of late, it has been way too sunny and bright in my world. There is only so much sun and heat and glare a person can take before they break! I was getting tired of it always being "another beautiful day." Finally, late Sunday night, the heavens broke loose and a violent thunderstorm decended. It was musical, it was bleak, it was beautiful. The weather report has thunderstorms forcasted for seven out of the next 10 days. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

My garden is definitely happy with the rain and I'm hoping the torrential downpour will drown the little bugger of a wasp that stung me twice while I was planting some flowers. As I ran screaming like a girl into the house tearing off my gardening gloves, my hand feeling as if it were on fire, I couldn't help but think how the little snot better hope I could still knit or else I would be out for wasp blood. Fortunately, I can still knit and have been now that I've put away the bohus sweater for a spell and changed the pattern for the Hill Country Sweet Feet I'm knitting. I've treated the hot wool of the bohus to the smooth silk of Louisa Harding Mulberry. I'm trying out the Signature circulars, and so far, the jury is still out. I need to knit a stretch of stockinette to see how I love the needles.

The wasp sting didn't interfer with my cooking either, which is very important since our CSA was refreshed Saturday. Plus, we still had the squashes from John's garden (excellent fly fishing guide, and I'm not just saying that because he's great with Little Clover). Saturday, I made John and Kathy's squash casserole.

Squash Casserole
A couple of large garden fresh squashes, sliced into rounds
Onion, sliced into rings
Cheese (we used raw milk cheddar), shredded
One sleeve of Ritz Crackers, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 400(F). Grease a 9x9 inch baking dish. Cover the bottom with a layer of squash, add a layer of onions, add a layer of cheese. Repeat with a second layer of squash, onions cheese. Top with crumbled crackers. Bake for 35 minutes. Cover with foil and bake for another 15 minutes.

We had plenty of squash casserole leftover. I am not a big eater of leftovers, but the squash was a gift and we as a family are working at the adage, "waste not, want not." The squash casserole became, then, a culinary challenge. Entering the kitchen last night, I put a pot of water on the stove to boil some pasta. When the pasta was on, I heated olive oil in a pan and added some fresh garlic. I lightly crushed the small tomatoes from the CSA with a potato masher and added them to the heated oil. The tomatoes then got a heathly showering of salt, pepper, basil, parsley, and thyme. After they were heated throroughly, I added the squash casserole to the skillet. The pasta was plated, topped with the stove top raghu, then I added some herbed goat cheese, and finally topped it all with sardines. No grocery shopping was involved, the leftovers were used, and the dish tasted like a very elegant grown up tuna casserole. I'm looking forward to the next time we have leftovers.