Rainy Season aka Winter

I’m learning what winter means here in Northern California.  I’ve been hearing for months “just wait, the rains will come.”  “This is mist. Wait ’til it really rains. We need the rain.  It’ll rain ’til March.”

It’s raining.  Every day. Mostly sideways.  When you walk outside you can’t avoid getting a wet face. Rain, rain, rain. Makes me want a new wardrobe and a drying rack for when I come home at the end of the day.  I also have started dreaming of more tropical weather, regarding the palm trees around me as false advertisement.  It’s not too bad.  40 degrees or so and wet around the clock. No thunder or lightning, just rain.

This wet cold reaches through to my bones and makes me crave soup, tea, and a good book.  Simple and soothing I decided to make a corn chowder today.  It was delicious.  I served it (to myself) with cheesy bread: toasted ciabatta roll with melted cheese on top.

When cooking for one, ingredient quantities really become relative and more of a hit or miss, eye-ball it, learn as you go business.  So, I’ll just include the list of ingredients below to-be customized.  I wanted to share this recipe with you though, for the technique.  Reading around today for a recipe that looked good I came across instructions that had me adding the flour to the butter with the onions in the pan.  Not the typical roux then slowly add milk that I am used to for a creamy sauce or thickening agent.  Long story short, it worked brilliantly and I made my thickest creamiest soup yet.

So check it out and happy cooking.  Do you have a favorite chowder?