When It Rains

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When it rains in California, the world sort of stops.  People suddenly cannot drive with even 1/100th of an inch of rain on the roads, i.e. your cat sneezes more water than actual rainfall amounts, and in general people hunker down and stay inside.

This is not how I grew up.  Far from it!  I grew up in rural Minnesota where people went outside in -20F degree temperatures for much of the year and thought nothing of it.  It was life.  You just dealt with it and moved on.  And drank lots of beer, went ice fishing, or went snowmobiling.

In light of the rain yesterday, it was a great day to do some baking.

This is what I came up with.

#iphonephotography

I need to edit the real pictures and type up the recipe.   It’s coming soon.  Patience is a virtue.

The closest thing in my recipe archives to the cookies I made yesterday are probably these

Other things I do when it rains:

Clean my house

Catch up on emails, computer work, photo editing, and blogging.  Or try to get ahead on things, i.e. pre-blogging some posts in draft so that on really busy days, I can hit Publish rather than starting from scratch

I’d be lying if I said I sit around curled up on the couch reading magazines when it rains.  I’d like to but it’s not reality.

The Beauty Expert Allure September 2011 issue cover

Not when I have a family to feed, work to do, Skylar to take care of, and just life to tend to.

I try to be extra productive by cooking, doing meal prep work like produce cleaning and vegetable chopping, and cooking things that make planned leftovers  <–cook once, eat twice

Some good comfort food like Cheesy Taco Casserole sounds good when it’s raining

Cheesy Taco Casserole with chips aroundGrowing up in Minnesota we ate lots of casseroles.  But we called them ‘hot dishes’.  Casserole sounds much fancier than we ever were.

And we ate lots of leftovers.  As a working mom, I now understand why my working mom was a fan of leftovers.

Cheesy Taco Casserole squares in containerSometimes things are not fully evident for a couple decades, like why anyone would actually want to create leftovers.  But I get it now.

Other rainy day projects included

Laundry

Wasting time on Pinterest

Drinking a Pumpkin Spice Latte

Pumpkin Spice Latte in cup

And trying to keep this one from going stir crazy

Skylar smiling in pink top and sweaterGood thing we have lots of crayons, paper, books, and the occasional Barney episode on DVR

Questions:

1. What do you like to do on Rainy Days?

2. Do people drive differently in your area in rain or bad weather?

They sure do here.  I think it’s probably a universal phenomenon but people who are used to driving in snow and inclement weather get pretty good at it from all the practice.

In Southern California, most people have no practice with snow and since it rains so infrequently here, when it does, holy traffic accidents and traffic delays.

On my way to pick up a Princess Costume (yes, we had success on that venture), I saw some really wicked accidents.  Spin outs, crashes into guardrails, traffic backed up for miles, police and ambulances everywhere.  Gnarly stuff.

Common sense things like: slow down, increase your following distance, don’t tailgate, don’t slam on your brakes, don’t make any sudden or jerky moves, take your time on turns, common.sense.stuff, it seems to have been lost on many drivers here.

Good thing the weather is usually like this

Blue sky and palm trees

Thanks for the Silpat Giveaway entries

 

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. On rainy days I like to be inside snuggling on the couch, listening to the rain with a glass of wine. I definitely do not like to drive in the rain … the glare from the street lights and wet road at night bothers my eyes and I have trouble driving. Most people in my city drive well in the rain, but get a little stupid when it snows and gets really icy. They get better as the winter goes on.

  2. Oooh, that taco pie looks to die for! I know what you mean about the rain, I think it’s worse up here in LA though, especially around the 405 and LAX areas!

  3. and you had those “hot dishes” for “supper”, right? Maybe with a “pop”? I, was born in Minnesota, but have lived most of my life in California.

  4. ” I grew up in rural Minnesota where people went outside in -20F degree temperatures for much of the year and thought nothing of it. It was life. You just dealt with it and moved on. And drank lots of beer, went ice fishing, or went snowmobiling.

    Amen sister!! We didn’t let anything stop us from having fun. Heck, I recall trick or treating in snow!

    I was born in St. Paul and grew up there plus Minneapolis and Newport, MN. And yes, I remember my mom calling dinner a ‘Hot Dish’. How funny! Do you still have your Mid-West accent? I do, but it is a bit of a blend now. I’ve got the typical Scandanavian look of Blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin. That comes from my Norweigian, Swedish, Dutch, Finnish and a touch of German background. =) My mom went crazy when she found someone that sells Lefse! But no Ludefisk, thank goodness! Nasty smelling fish!

    Have a Great Weekend!

    1. I remember blizzard Halloweens myself…and we still tried to go out and get some candy…haha!

      I think I’ve lost my midwestern accent b/c I havent lived there since the late 90s when I graduated from St. Thomas b/c people are always surprised when I tell them Im not a CA native.

      Lefse…love it with lots of butter and cinnamon and sugar.

      Thanks for saying hi!