The Time Has Come....

The time has come my little friends, to talk of other things, of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings. ~Lewis Carroll

So let's talk of other things. Let's talk of woozles and boozles and little curly ques. Not really sure what kind of curly ques but let's talk about them anyway. Happy ribbon curly ques. Hair that hangs in bouncy corkscrews.

I feel a bit of nonsense in the air today.

It has been fantastically dreary the last couple of days and it makes me want to read. Read. Read. I love anything in the shape of a book, but a book of nonsense will send me into the happy land of Phantasmorania where fairies live. If you have never read the book "The Ordinary Princess" you simply must. It is a wonderful story of a little princess born into a family of 7 fantastically beautiful princesses who is given the gift of ordinary by a fairy. Lovely rainy day read. I really do hope that it will be made into a movie one day, but the book is wonderful.

It's been a couple of days that makes me want to cook wintery food. Like ratatouille. I know that it is supposed to be a summer dish, but when I eat it I want it to be cold outside because it is such a comfort food for me. So here is the recipe for it. You can serve it with grilled chicken or fish.

Bon Appetit!

Ratatouille

5 oz diced bacon

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 large eggplant, cubed

2 red bell peppers, diced

2 small onions, diced

2 T garlic, minced

2 zucchini, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup red wine

cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Put the cubed eggplant in a colander with the 2 tsp. kosher salt. Toss and allow to drain in the sink. In a heavy Dutch oven, heat 3 T of the olive oil over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp. Add the red pepper, garlic and onion, cover and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. (I personally like to add 4-6 cubed potatoes here and let them cook for about 5-8 mins. It makes it a bit heartier. But you don't have to if you don't want to.....it's just a fabulous suggestion that makes this taste so much better because potatoes are such a wonderful vegetable and they make everything taste better.) Add zucchini, cook about ten more minutes. Rinse off eggplant, add to Dutch oven, also add tomatoes. Add remaining olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until eggplant is soft, about 20 more minutes. Set your colander over a large bowl, and drain the vegetables. Meanwhile, add the red wine to the Dutch oven, turning up the heat to boil and deglaze. Add the vegetable juices from the bowl back into the Dutch oven and boil on high heat until reduced and syrupy, ten minutes or so. Add the vegetables back into the pot and toss to combine, seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed. Enjoy. Today and for lunch tomorrow.