Simple recipes for a rainy day.

A rainy day is a perfect day sometimes. In spring when the weather is great and all around me the world is blooming I enjoy the outside. Then we get a grey rainy day and I think, perfect day to hook a rug. It is like permission to stay inside and hook. 

And why do I need permission? Why do we ask ourselves for permission to do the things we love to do? Is it some residual guilt I am carrying around? I have no idea. I just know that today, after working really hard all week, I am happy to have a rainy day and be in the house and putt around.

I will do small things and they will feel important just because I am there. I'll dust, and make coffee, and out on a pot of French onion soup for supper. I will walk in the rain with my raincoat and red umbrella and likely get soaked. I might even light a fire in the wood stove if the dampness gets into the bones of the house. And I'll sketch and I'll hook. I will be alone with the mat.

I will be relieved of the pressure to "enjoy this beautiful day" outside and be reminded that everyday is beautiful, rain or shine. 

I will do my laundry, wash my sheets, and maybe stew some rhubarb. Yes, I will pick the rhubarb in the rain after the walk. I will be wet anyway, what difference does it make. Eight cups of chopped rhubarb, 3/4 cup of sugar on low heat on the stove top. Nothing else. Stir and watch it become a sauce. That tastes like spring anytime of year.

There is nothing more lovely than an ordinary day. A day to yourself. We are told to celebrate all the accomplishments, birthdays and anniversaries of the world and to overlook the mundane. Life is mostly the mundane and it too needs to be appreciated and celebrated. Our routines are blessings that take us home to ourselves. They comfort us and make us feel safe. The little blessings of a life that we receive time and time again.

Milk in our tea, a morning walk, rain on our face. It's all goodness. As I right this, it is raining harder now, a little song on the roof reminding me to love the day regardless.

French Onion Soup:

Fry six large onions sliced in 1/4 cup butter until they are translucent over medium heat. Stir often.

Add 1/2 cup red wine.

10 cups of beef stock. I use about 4-5 teaspoons of Better than Bouillon for this.

Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer until onions are well cooked.

A hunk of bread dried out. I use old crusty bread from the freezer and let it dry out for the day. Then I bake it at 350 degrees for twenty minutes until it is golden.

Serving:

Put the bread in an oven proof bowl.

Pour soup over to almost fill the bowl.

Cover with shredded Swiss, gruyere, or a preferred cheese and put in oven until cheese is melted and maybe even a bit crusty. I usually put the bowls on a cookie sheet as it is easier to take them out of the oven.