Sunday night, the gods went bowling over North Dakota. We heard them score a few great strikes! Then one spilled his drink and it poured down on us with a vengeance. It was one of those nights when you really enjoy the warmth and comfort of snuggling in your own bed with your partner.
When we looked outside Monday morning, we saw something we hadn't seen for some time: blue skies. The rain had washed much of the smoke out of the air.
We had a late afternoon appointment over in Dickinson (the larger town to the east) to get our Jeep's oil changed, but that left us with plenty of time to make the 50 mile drive up to the North Unit of the park. We had read that it was well worth the trip, because of the extraordinary scenery and the lack of people!
We learned the badlands were more rugged there than in the South Unit because the glaciers reached the North Unit but not the South.
Here are a few of the pictures we took driving the park road:
This rock below was about four feet tall, and our first reaction was that it looked like Thor's bowling ball. Maybe he dropped it last night?
In fact it is a natural rock formation called a cementation where new minerals stick the grains of sand together. Most are very round and some are as small as marbles, while others are very large boulders. Probably no gods were involved.
The park road is fourteen miles one way. When we got to the end we traded places so Craig could look and shoot pictures while I drove. Although the days have been hot, the night temperatures are rarely warm in the Dakotas. I noticed a few first signs of fall.
This is a good thing, maybe the parks won't be so crowded!
There was a song that went "It never rains in California..."
Sometimes it seems true. For us, here in the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of San Francisco, it doesn't rain from late May or early June, to October. Then it will rain on and off until spring comes again.
I get pretty used to clear weather, and don't think about working around rain until it starts.
On Tuesday I started the huge deck rail sanding project mentioned in my last post. I stopped work when the clouds started building up and the wind blew cold.
It didn't start to rain until late that night. Wednesday was pretty dry, and I was again able to work in the afternoon for a while until it started to thunder quite loudly. We rarely get thunder storms, so it was a bit unnerving.
Today is Thursday. It rained quite hard in the night and everything is very wet outside. No sanding today.
As luck would have it, I got an order for a Large Moose yesterday, so I worked on him today. The animal head business has been dreadfully slow all summer. I have had several international orders, but when I send the customer a shipping estimate they have backed off. Oh well, I feel like I had a very good run with it, and it might be time to hang up the old glue gun and retire.
Well, I'll make the moose first. It will buy a tank of fuel if we hurry up and fill up before the prices rise much more!
Craig did find and buy a larger belt sander, but he too must wait for things to dry out again. He happily took the day off today to listen to the baseball games.
Rain is good. It means the end of the wildfire season for another year, and when you live in the forest that is a relief.
Do you like the fall change of weather where you are?
The Alfa is tucked in on her pad for a while. We may take a short run in November, but basically we will be working on house projects until our Christmas get away.
It's probably a good thing we don't have a trip soon because California is having a fuel crisis. Gas prices are skyrocketing. $5.00 gas is being reported in San Francisco, and some stations are closing temporarily rather than pay the high wholesale prices. COSTCO is one of them. I paid $4.50 for regular yesterday!
So ... I can either put the blog on hold, unlikely, or write about other things in my life, like food.
I had an excellent breakfast this morning. Leftover ratatouille with leftover spaghetti squash mixed in.
So good!
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| Picture from the Web |
I cooked the Ratatouille in the slow cooker on Tuesday.
So easy.
I really like the cooker I have because the ceramic inner pot is removable and fits into either my home refrigerator or the RV refrigerator, and I can do all the prep work the night before if I want, it is so much easier than doing all the chopping and making a mess in the morning.
I don't really follow a particular recipe. This is how I make it:
Cut the following vegetables into 1" - 1 1/2" chunks and place into slow cooker, adding the seasonings as you go:
1 large onion
3 bell peppers, red, yellow and orange.
1 green bell pepper (optional)
2 crook neck yellow squash
2 or 3 zucchini
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers
1 large or 2 small peeled eggplants
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes that have been peeled and seeded, or 2 cans chopped tomatoes that have been drained in a sieve to remove excess liquid.
Seasonings:
Lots of chopped up garlic,
2 or more tablespoons salt and pepper,
a generous amount of Italian blend seasoning or your own mix of dried oregano and basil. Parsley is good too. I just shake it on as I add layers of veggies.
A generous splash of olive oil.
I mix all of this together and top with 1 thin sliced smoked sausage. I use a turkey one from Hillshire Farms.
Vegetarians can leave the sausage out.
In the morning, I start the slow cooker on high for a little while if possible and then turn it down to low for the rest of the day: 8 hours or so. If it looks done before dinner time I switch it to warm.
I do not add any extra liquid to the veggies, nor do I salt and rinse the eggplant.
Ratatouille is a hearty vegetale stew that is wonderful on a cool autumn evening. I serve it in a soup bowl with both a spoon and a fork. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of fresh basil or parsley on top if I have it.
A nice slice of fresh homemade bread completes the meal. Bread is also great to sop up the juices.
The above recipe amount made eight servings. We had it two nights for dinner, then Craig had it for lunch one day, and I ate the rest for breakfast today.
Yumm...
What is one of your favorite fall comfort foods?
