The Reprieve

In the long days, my one reprieve is cooking for my family.  As much as I love this cottage, you do not want to turn on the oven if it is remotely warm outside. On the other hand, a cold, rainy day is the perfect time to crank the oven up for some homemade bread or biscuits.  On Friday evening, the rain was pouring down in massive sheets. Instead of driving in the inclement weather, I used what we had on hand. 

I was able to clean the vegetable bins and use up bits of this and that. There was celery, tomatoes, potatoes, one carrot and tons of cilantro.  After I carmelized one onion, I added brown lentils and barley, and a pot of steaming soup was born. I even ducked out in the rain to fetch fresh sage and rosemary from the garden to season the pot.

I was not up for baking a bread that needed to rise, so I whipped up a batch of dill biscuits. All of the tools for making the biscuits were thrifted for their charm, but I have found them all very useful. One tool is a metal butter cutter. You simply place it over the stick of cold butter and you get equally sliced pats of butter. This works perfectly for pie crusts and other pastries! Who knew? I never even knew something like this existed. 

When my love arrived home from the soggy Los Angeles freeway, a bowl of hot soup and warm biscuits and butter met him at the door. We ate together in the glow of candlelight. Our bellies full and our souls nourished in each other's company.