9/17/2020 – Ratatouilles

/ Jacobhouse / By

9/17/2020

(Above: Three prepared ratatouilles ready for the oven.)

Summary: Today began with calisthenics, piano practice, and some Jacobhouse cleaning. After this I ventured outdoors to perform the day’s first beef pasture inspection with Padre. All the cattle appeared to be faring well, so I next returned to Jacobhouse where I finished the weekly cleaning and wrote for about 1.75 hours. I began cooking some burger-steaks for lunch at 11:45 AM, and we were eating those steaks along with a sizeable Padre-made/Madre-dressed salad at 12:05 PM.

  • A pleasant, almost autumnal morning.
  • A fully-cleaned Jacobhouse (sourdough experiment in the foreground).
  • Last night’s dinner: Parmesan-topped picanha.
  • Picanha served atop a bed of greens.

(6:57 PM Update:) Afternoon activities were initiated with much vegetable slicing, sauce-making, and ratatouille arranging. It should be noted that I took a 20 minute rest amidst these activities*. At 3:10 PM, I attended a Master Blend customer, and by 3:40 PM, I had finished preparing the ratatouilles and cleaning up the kitchen. I next ventured over to the Madre-office where today’s primary activities consisted of poking (drilling) holes in the bottom of her container. The 1″ hole for the water inlet pipe was made quite easy with the new drill bit, and it was with slight difficulty that I found, marked, and drilled the center of the sewage outlet’s hole. Now, thanks to Padre’s** and my efforts, the grating has been cleared away from the space where the 3″ sewer line will make its exit (pictures likely next week; I neglected to take them today on account of much sweat and a MB customer).

  • Saucing the trays before applying vegetable slices.
  • The most time-consuming portion of making ratatouille: lining up the vegetables.
  • Many drying dishes.
  • A view outside the office window after the late afternoon’s deluge.

Final Note: Having returned from a soggy trek through the beef pasture with Padre, I am now concluding this day’s entry as 3 ratatouilles cook in the oven. Dinner will consist of the makeshift ratatouille – the one I created from the leftover vegetables from the other two and a slice of Padre-pizza. It is going to be delicious.

Bonus Video:

*It was about 20 minutes after cutting six onions. Unfortunately, despite my eyes having overcome the initial burning, they began to burn again when I closed them to engage in repose.

** Padre attended to the hole as I took care of another Master Blend customer.