Monday, May 18, 2009

This Is How Rich People Live



Those are the ingredients I made our supper from last night.
Salad greens, small red tomatoes, onions, peas, potatoes, two green tomatoes and grouper, just caught, just cleaned.
I picked the vegetables from the garden and Mr. Moon picked the grouper from the sea and if I've ever eaten a better meal, I don't know when.
Before I started cooking, we sat out on the porch and had a drink and I said, "I feel like one of the richest people in the world," and I did, sitting there on the steps and looking out at the trees, my old house solidly behind me, my man sitting there a few feet away, knowing I was about to go in and make a feast out of that food.
It had been threatening rain for an hour. Great black, bruised sky, distant thunder, and my daughter, when I talked to her on the phone said it was pouring in town.
"If it rains, I WILL be one of the richest people in the world," I said and then it began. A few drops, heavy, splattering into the dry dirt and then it came, great curtains of rain and we sighed with the coolness, the flat-out miracle of water falling from the sky onto these trees, this dirt, this tin roof.
I put my hands under a torrent of it as it spilled off the roof and caught some and brought it to my mouth and it was the sweetest water I ever drank, sharp and cold.
"Oh," we said. "If it would only rain for hours," and then it did. It rained all night, a soft pattering of it as we hopped through the puddles to go check on the chickens, cozy in their coop, sleepy-eyed and curious. It rained as I steamed potatoes and peas and it rained as I made a sauce of onions and red peppers and butter and flour and milk to go on them. It rained as I rinsed the grouper fillets and dredged them in panko bread crumbs and chopped pecans and laid them tenderly on the cooking sheet and baked them. It rained as I cut up the green tomatoes to fry and it rained as I made the salad, dressed it with olive oil and lemon juice and vinegar and soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds.
It rained as we ate all that food and it was so good we never wanted it to end.
And it rained as we went to bed and it's drizzling this morning and the air is cool and magnolia blossoms are opening on my tree and the train just rushed by, not slowed down one bit by the rain but me? I am stopping and being grateful for it.
I am listening to the sound of the earth receiving its holy waters, its baptismal rain, its miraculous wetness while the wind tosses the trees in its wake as it travels across the planet.

I am reveling in my wealth.

19 comments:

  1. Wow! How exciting that all that came from your garden!! That is some serious produce production!

    I'm no where near that level yet.
    BUT - I did eat my first home grown cucumber yesterday. Mmmmm!

    And fresh grouper? Good enough to almost make me believe there's a god.

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  2. It's so nice and cool this morning, too. Baggy slept on top of me all night because she was chilly.

    I dreamed you had two roosters! Any of those chickens start crowing yet?

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  3. I felt like I was reading a book... a beautiful story about the richest woman in the world.

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  4. What a great post. We must be close to each other--I'm in NE FL, and shared in the glorious rain simultaneously with you. Right now, it's raining, raining, raining, and I love it!

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  5. Ms. Lemon- Ah. A cucumber- I was late getting mine in but they're growing nicely. And that grouper was DIVINE.

    DTG- Nope. Not yet. I just wonder if I have any hens. They're so cute! I just love my chickens.

    HoneyLuna- I am!

    NurseExec- Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your rain, too!

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  6. The rain finally stopped here and now it's crisp and cool. And I'm back at work, tending headlice and Monday morning-itis which manifests itself mostly as tummyaches. Good morning and let us all be thankful!

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  7. It's finally supposed to hit 70 degrees here today, so I'm happy about that!
    And my mums survived the frost advisories this weekend, so I'm happy about that too.
    But I don't grow veggies, since I don't eat them, but they look very nice!

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  8. That looks wonderful! Looks like you all are going to keep the rain, I saw it on the Today show this morning that Florida was getting drenched! Our rain is finally moving out and it's going to be sunny and 70 all week I think. Good stuff :)

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  9. Steph- Thanks!

    Maggie May- I miss you!

    Ms. Bliss- You said it.

    Rachel- I would die if it hadn't gotten up to at least seventy here yet. And you don't eat vegetables? Hmmm...perhaps your gallbladder is angry at you for that. My friend Billy hates vegetables and he's already had his gallbladder out before the age of thirty. Coincidence? Whatever. He still doesn't like vegetables.

    SJ- It could rain all week and Id be fine with that. Enjoy your sun.

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  10. Damn am I hungry! What the hell am I supposed to do to equal that meal?
    Great post Sister Moon. I was riding yesterday when the rain hit. I usually hate that, but for some reason it was perfect. A symptom of being inside too long I suspect.

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  11. Every day you knock my socks off-and don't you love those panko crumbs? They are my fave.

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  12. There is something about the rain that always makes me appreciate what I have. It slows me down and brings me closer to home. Enjoy your rain, hopefully the feeling it gave you will stay with you for awhile.
    PS I ordered the movie you suggested, I looked all over town but no one had it so I had to order it. I hate the waiting part

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  13. Brother B.- Well, Kool Beanz could cook you up something just as good or even better but it won't be that fresh. I can guarantee you that. Riding in the rain- as long as you don't get cold it's probably fairly lovely. Remember when you were a kid and it would rain while you were swimming? That just seemed like the coolest thing in the world for some reason. Until it started lightening and some grownup would make you get out of the water. Stupid grownups, ruining all the kids' fun.

    Kori- They're wonderful! I put the pecan pieces in the food processor first and give them some whirls, then throw in the panko and let it all get nice and tiny. Beautiful!

    Sarah- Yes. The rain does that. It also makes me sleepy! I was so sleepy in yoga today I felt as if I could fall asleep in humble warrior. More lethargy than sleep, I suppose. I'm so glad you ordered that movie. It'll give you a lot to think about. Plus- births!

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  14. This made me sigh and smile. I want to come and sit on your porch and drink wine in the rain - is that okay? ;o)

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  15. I love food posts. Especially because I don't have as much time as I wish for cooking. Occasionally I like to get in the kitchen and chop and fry and stir and saute. For now, I'll settle for reading about it!

    Hooray for the rain!

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  16. Penelope- Of course!

    Lora- Yes. Cooking is therapy, art, and joy. Unless it's a drudge, of course.

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