Ratatouille (my quick version)

Ingredients and a cup of tea

I realize this is more of a winter meal but spring can have its chilly days too when you want a hearty bowl of something warm and mildly spicy that doesn't take all day to make. This would be that kind of meal. If you prep the veggies earlier, it's even faster.

The recipe calls for garlic and onions. Of course, as I began making this I realized that I was out of both of those. So I substituted garlic powder and onion powder. Granted, the dish tastes far better with the actual garlic and onions but in a pinch, powder works.

Ratatouille

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
2 zucchinis (or as my grocery store insists on calling them: green squash), cubed
2 bell peppers, seeded and cubed
1 package sliced mushrooms
 1 large can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp thyme
3/4 cup good red wine (if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it)
1 package Italian hot sausage

In a small saute pan, cook sausage over medium heat until cooked through.

Meanwhile, in a stock pot, combine olive oil with garlic and onions. Cook over medium heat until onions are golden and garlic is fragrant (about 2 minutes) Add eggplant, squash, zucchini, bell peppers and mushrooms. Stir to combine and cook for two minutes more. Add can of tomatoes, red wine, basil and thyme. Stir, cover and simmer for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

When sausage is cooked through, slice into bite size pieces and add to stock pot, stirring well, remove cover and simmer for five more minutes.

When veggies are soft (after about twenty minutes) and stew is fragrant, remove from heat.

Serve as is, or covered in Parmesan cheese or over rice. This could even be tossed with angel hair pasta. It's very versatile. According to Mike, it also makes a great lunch the next day.

"Alice in Wonderland" Inspired Tea Cabinet

I love tea and teacups and teapots, and Alice in Wonderland. My husband loves woodworking and making things for the house. Those two loves translated into something amazing. He made me a tea cabinet that hangs on the wall and holds twelve different kinds of tea in twelve individual drawers. Each drawer has a glass front slot that holds one tea bag so that you can see what tea is in each drawer. Then there is a shelf on the top for a teapot and saucers and four hooks on the bottom for the teacups.

Usually when he makes something for the house, it is left natural or lightly finished to show of the wood. This time though, he left it blank, as it were, for me to paint however I wanted. This terrified me.

I am not really an artist and I've never been really sure of myself with paint. The idea of painting this beautiful piece of furniture made me really nervous. After much thought and consultation with a very good friend, I just went for it. At worst, I figured, I could always paint over it again.

Being that it was for tea, I wanted an Alice-y theme to it but I didn't want it too theme-y. For instance, I didn't want it emblazoned with busts of every character from the Wonderland books.  I wanted it to be subtly Alice. So I chose Harlequin black and white diamonds for the backs of both shelves; pink stripes for the sides reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from the Disney version, and Alice blue for the shelves and front.

Below are the photos of the transformation:

My painting setup

Maximus is supervising.

A cup of tea for inspiration.

Marking the edges with painters tape, Callisto is supervising here.

Marking out the white tiles with tape.

Painting the black tiles.

Marking for the pink stripes.

Stripes finished.

And here is the finished product!