Dodging Raindrops

Last night, probably around midnight, I woke up to the sound of falling rain. I’m not sure how long it had been raining, but the sound of the steady falling raindrops was soothing.

Before going to bed, I had taken dose of Nyquil because somewhere along the line I have managed to catch a cold and I felt like a good night’s sleep would be helpful. So I was in kind of a groggy, Nyquil-induced coma-like state as I listened to the rain fall. It was really raining hard.

All of the sudden, I remembered that when I drove to the mall yesterday afternoon, I had cracked the sunroof on my little yellow Volkswagen Beetle (dubbed Nana’s Bug by all of the grandkids), which I left outside rather than parking in the garage. Had I closed the sunroof? Couldn’t remember. Being anesthetized by Nyquil didn’t help my memory.

I leaped out of bed and ran to the window, but I couldn’t see a thing. I did, however, awaken my husband, who can generally sleep through anything, but apparently not me running around the bedroom in only-somewhat-controlled hysteria.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. I explained, and asked him if he knew the location of any of the 40 or 50 umbrellas we own. Of course he didn’t. And I’m not complaining about him, because I had no clue as to where they were either. That’s why we own 40 or 50. We can never find one when we need it, so we buy another. Somewhere in this house there is a pile of umbrellas the size of Mt. Fuji.

I don’t own any rubber boots, but I knew I didn’t want to go outside in my bedroom slippers. So I put on a pair of hiking boots. And I don’t own a raincoat. (Hey! I live in Denver, not Seattle. I own a ski jacket.) So I grabbed the jacket to my workout clothes and threw it over my shoulders. There I was, wearing a blue nightgown, hiking boots, and a bright green Nike jacket. I looked like Granny Clampett. But it doesn’t matter how I looked. The point is I was wearing absolutely nothing that would keep me dry.

Anyway, the good news is that I hadn’t left my window open and my car was locked up tight as a drum. More good news is that I didn’t even have to go outside, which I would have realized had I not been medicated. Kids, don’t use drugs. I simply opened the garage door and looked outside at my cozily-locked-up-tight-as-a-drum car.

Bill had fallen back to sleep, but I laid awake a long while listening to the rain.

Soup's On

This week I am going to feature recipes for soup. Soup is one of my favorite things to eat, and my mom had a lot of soup recipes. She prepared soup every day for the little coffee shop/restaurant they owned in Leadville, Colorado, for a few years. She gave me this recipe that she called Cream of Anything. I always thought it was very clever of her to have come up with the idea.

Cream of Anything Soup

Ingredients
¾ c. butter
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 c. chopped vegetables
2 T. chicken broth seasoning, or 2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 c. milk
2 c. half and half
1 qt. hot water
Salt and pepper
Seasonings

Process
Melt butter in Dutch oven. Add onion and celery. Sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add chopped vegetables, and sauté, covered, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are becoming tender. Stir in flour. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 or 3 minutes. Add water, chicken seasoning and milk. Cook, stirring, until thickened.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in half and half. Bring to simmer, but not to a boil. Add seasonings according to vegetables used.