Monday 18 May 2020

Food and Rain

I am not a fancy chef. I like to vary my dinners because I would get bored of eating the same thing all the time, but I do repeat many of my standard meals. I'm pretty good with dessert. Yesterday, I made pastry for a single pie and grabbed a bag of frozen strawberries out of the freezer and a bag of frozen rhubarb, both grown here, and went about making strawberry rhubarb custard pie (no shortage of eggs).

Here it is before going in the oven. I often have too much filling, so I created a "mini pie" using the cut off bits of pastry and the leftover filling as well.



After an hour in the oven, both came out smelling heavenly.


The topping is essentially the makings of a sugar cookie, crumbled on top. The pie went along with roast chicken legs and thighs, green bean casserole, and mashed sweet potato. Sunday night dinner.

Today's meal was one of my (and my daughter's) favourites. I've written about these ingredients before, I believe, maybe in terms of tossing them in a salad. This time, they were mixed with pasta.


Sauteed in olive oil: peppers, red onion, sundried tomatoes, olives, marinated artichoke hearts.

When the pasta is cooked, mix it in with the vegetables and a good dollop of both of these:

It's just so good!

For all the wonderful warm loveliness of Saturday, today (Monday) has been nonstop rain and wind. The rain started last night. When we were having our meal, the cat came in rather damp from the rain. Our Samson (R.I.P.) was such a smart boy, knowing we would lay a towel down and he would step on it, ready to let us dry him off. Scooter, who is a different sort, needs to be scooped up and then squirms like a larva.


He looked ridiculous because he is enormously fluffy, but his head is rather small compared to the rest of him.

As I'm typing this, I can hear my husband in the room below me talking with his mom who is in a long term care home. Of course, we cannot visit her, but she seems to be in good spirits. There are no cases at her care home, but there were two workers earlier who were positive. Of course, they stopped working there and all residents were tested, all of them being negative. I can also hear the wind and the rain against the window. I managed to get grass seed down in the filled in trench areas (well, almost all of them), so the rain will be a bonus to get that grass seed starting to germinate.
Today was a holiday, so tomorrow I'm back online, posting assignments and activities for my students and waiting for them to respond.

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like a pretty good Monday Holiday. Love that you made the mini one too. That's fun. Glad your hubby's mom is in good spirits, too. Win, win.

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  2. Love both your meals - too bad I can't drop by to try a sample. I think I have strawberries and rhubarb in the freezer too. Luckily I cut the grass yesterday as it will be shooting up again today!

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  3. Mr Man's favourite pie is strawberry rhubarb. That is wonderful that your MiL is doing well & that there are no COVID-19 cases in her home. The Ontario Health site lists all the homes with cases - just WOW & OMG. I use both those brands of Pesto. Pasta & veggies is a perfect dinner. ... Mary-Lou =^[..]^=

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  4. I'm so sorry the holiday was a rainy one. We've had horrible rain since Sunday night and my basement has flooded (again). Sweet Scooter looks so darned cute all wrapped up! And I think I want to have dinner at your house! Oh, everything looks so delicious -- the veggie mix (how versatile -- and you've gotta love anything with olives and artichokes!) and that wonderful pie. Looks delicious!

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  5. I want that pie and I want it right now.

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  6. I don't usually mix anything with my pasta but I might try a few of these veggies. Your cat is so cute. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.

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  7. That pie looks so good. Your kitty is so cute. Happy Tuesday.
    Hugs,
    Kris

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  8. I wish I could smell your food photos - they look so delicious! I will have to try that pasta recipe. I'd say you ARE a fancy chef! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. mmmm Rhubarb custard pie - are you making that a bit like a sweetened quiche? It looks heavenly.

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  10. That pie looks to die for! And the sauteed veggies, yum. Lots of rain here too, and colder after being too hot over the weekend. I'm not ready for 86F degrees yet.

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  11. Cold, cold rain here all day, too. Veggies in pasta, always a favorite.

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  12. That pie looks delicious and we'd love some rain, too dry here in Suffolk

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  13. Oh, that pie looks delicious! So glad to hear that your mother-in-law is doing well and that all the residents are safe. That is great news!

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  14. Hi, I found you at Jeanie's blog. Your pie and the veggie dish look really good. You have inspired me to do something similar. Aloha from Hawaii.

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  15. How did I miss this post? (Isolated, stay-at-home-too-much, unstimulated brain cells, that's how.)

    That strawberry-rhubarb pie looks SO GOOD!

    We're still hoping for some rain this weekend, but they keep lowering the percentage of it happening. :o(

    There is talk going around that our schools will NOT OPEN next year. I feel that would just destroy our society as we know it. Let's hope it's just a rumor. Good grief.

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  16. F says strawberry and rhubarb are a great combo for jam-making as well. We can't get (or grow) rhubarb here in Greece, but it was one of her favorites in the English allotment garden. We hope you all enjoyed your pie (with more custard.... now I do like a bit of custard)

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