Monday, May 27, 2013

Rainshine


It has been raining. And raining. And raining some more. 

I have a new name for it:

Rainshine. 


Here near Seattle, we are used to the rain. 

We make little jokes about it.  

Like, 'We don't tan, we rust'. 

We have commercials about camping in the rain,
called 'Blue Tarp Camper, You're One of Us'. 

And when we see Mt. Rainier we say,
 'The Mountain is out', due to its perpetual cloak of clouds. 


We rarely use umbrella's, preferring the natural look of wet hair, and we wear sandals and shorts year round due to our nearly constant 50 degree temperature. 


Another popular commercial is 'Sandals and Socks Guy, You're One of Us'. 

In the winter we wear socks with our sandals. 

But we still wear our shorts. 


If the temperature rises above 70 degrees, people come out in droves, wearing tank tops and complaining of 'the heat'. 


But even though we are used to the rain, there are days when it just gets plain old tiresome. 

Especially on a holiday weekend when the rest of the country is enjoying bbq's with their families in the backyard. 

There was no such thing going on here. 



Instead we were forced to celebrate around the kitchen table. 

But we managed to make the best of it. 


I made a nice pot of homemade chicken rice soup, 


With some Irish Brown Bread while we counted our blessings. 


I was on pet-sitting duty for Weenie Baby and Peanut and we all stayed cozy inside. 

Don't you love their hopeful faces? 

Everyone loves homemade soup! 


With all the gloomy weather, my Christmas Cactus has decided to bloom again! 


One bright spot in an otherwise rather dim weekend. 


And look at these Stargazer Lilies my sweet Mr. brought home for me! 

They have scented the whole house! 


So in true Seattle fashion, we have just hunkered down to wait out the rain. 


With a fire in the wood stove and warm soup on the stove. 


It's just another day of rainshine. 

xoxo


Chicken Rice Soup
Serves 4-6

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

2 Tbsp olive oil or butter

2 boneless chicken breast halves

1/2 cup brown rice

4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

1 cup water

4 carrots, sliced

1 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried (or more to taste)

2 Bay Leaves

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

In heavy soup pot, cook onions, celery, and garlic in olive oil or butter until tender. Add chicken pieces, broth, water, and rest of ingredients. Bring to boiling, reduce to simmer, cook covered for 25-30 minutes until chicken is no longer pink and rice is tender.

Remove chicken, cut into bite sized pieces and return to pot.

Remove Bay Leaves.

Garnish with Thyme.

Serve with warm slices of  buttered Irish Brown Bread.

Enjoy!

xoxo

29 comments:

  1. Dear Karen,
    I understand that rain is a daily affair so you are certainly used to it.Because of the rain and the humidity you can enjoy all those spectacular wild forests and breath fresh pure air...Here, we seldom have wet days.I'll keep your recipe for colder days it seems absolutely delicious and nutricious.
    Have a lovely Tuesday!
    Olympia

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  2. I am so sorry your extended weekend was spoiled by the rain. Here in England this is also a regular occurence, but the rain actually kept away until this morning! I love your recipe and will give this a go as there is nothing like home made bread and soup on dark damp days. I hope your week improves. Chel x

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  3. Hello Karen
    Great pictures you show. Imagine being able to go in shorts and sandals all year ..... we can not here.
    Here we have the four seasons - spring can be snug ..... but not this year. Summer starts 01.06. and ending 31.08. it can be as warm but rainy ...... autumn wind / rain and winter from 12.01. 28.02. can be with snow / sleet and freezing down to minus 20 degrees Celsius good ....... so no shorts and sandals this year rundt.Ønsker you and your a really good day :) Hugs Hanne Bente

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  4. Ah, yes, we are just north of you and experience much the same. : )

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  5. Rainshine...I love it. What a cool term. The way you describe the temperature there, I am convinced I would love it. I didn't realize that it has a constant autumn-like temperature. That's my favorite time of year!

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  6. "Rainshine" that's a good one! We had rain yesterday (finally) with more to come this week.

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  7. Rainshine - I like it :) Everything is so green and lush there which makes it very beautiful! I especially love the first picture with the water and flowers. Your cute jokes made me smile, thank you for sharing. I do hope you get some sunshine soon. And thank you for sharing your soup recipe. It sounds quite tasty! We are supposed to get rain today so maybe I will make some soup for supper.

    Love and hugs!

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  8. love the two little hopefuls. :) loved your description of the culture where you live. i like simple, down-to-earth - no umbrella, shorts, sandals . too cute!

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  9. Such a lovely post! It is so great makes me wish for rain... but oh the beauty there when the sun does come out. Looks as if you had a very cozy... if wet... weekend, and the dogs are just adorable!

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  10. Your soup sound delicious and a perfect meal for all your rainy days. Don't feel too bad, it rained here yesterday also!! Beautiful pictures.

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  11. Your soup sounds great! Your place looks so cozy even in the wet:) We also had rain this weekend.

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  12. Rainshine! I love it. You make rainy days look beautiful.

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  13. Oh such truth - we are having the same rain up here - and we are beginning to rust - and grow webbed feet, quack quack. We did the Washington barbecue yesterday - Umbrella up for the cook - rush in and out to turn the burgers - eat indoors. It sure tasted like summer, with potato salad, macaroni salad and watermelon for dessert.

    Truthfully, even I am getting a tiny bit weary of the constant rain - but they say by Saturday the temperatures will be climbing to 70 (please stop at 70) and the sun will actually shine. Maybe our mountain (Mt. Baker) will even be out - it would be nice to see her after all this time.

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  14. Dearest Karen,
    Sounds like identical weather with my birth country The Netherlands!
    Great post with humor for your rainshine!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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  15. Love your name rainshine....Love the fact people still wear shorts here in the UK we have on our wellies! tee-hee...little weenie baby & peanut are soooo cute... I am going to try that yummy soup... Have a great week... Hugs May x x x

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  16. Rainshine, I love it! I don't think I could handle all that rain. But I could do with the 50 degree temps year round!

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  17. A weekend at home with rain sounds ok to me .
    It's amazing how much company you get in the kitchen when cooking, all my furry friends are sitting around waiting for bits to fall but the always get snacks.
    Merle.....

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  18. I was going to ask you for the soup recipe and there it waits at the end of the post -- thanks -- Rain rain rain and more rain rain is "plain old tiresome" and I agree -- wink! Your Christmas Cactus flower Oh my goodness the pink color is eye catching.. I am in deed of some flowers around me I think I need to buy me some next time in town -- maybe I can find some of those Stargazer Lilies -- this RV we are living in could use a new smell..
    Love seeing the rain drops from your deck table and plants.. It's May 28th and it's raining here too -- So I'll be doing the hunkering down to wait out as well.. now all I need is to make this soup of your... all the best sweet friend..
    Hugs

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  19. Oh it rained and rained here all weekend too, so there wasn't much celebrating outside for me either. A bowl of your chicken soup sure does sound good right now. Hope the "sun" shine returns soon.

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  20. I love your little dog friends. Nothing like canine companionship.

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  21. With our upcoming ninety degree temps I'll be wanting some of your cooler wet days!
    You've made rainy days look inviting with these lovely images!

    As to your comment on my post, I love squirrels so they are welcome at my bird feeders. :)

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  22. A day in the life or so it appears. Authentic... yet not a reality TV show. Lovely views!

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  23. Oh how I love everything in this post!
    the two cuties make me smile here...:)
    I love the every view you posted on this blog.

    Have a blessed day!

    ~Delvalina

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  24. I chuckled at your descriptions of what its like in your area - and as I'm not a big fan of rain, I can believe it gets tiresome sometimes. Would it make you feel better if I told you that last weekend it rained in Vermont, also - even snowed in the mountains... Brrr - yep, we were eating indoors, too. The weather has been so strange this year. I loved your photos of rain shine - and hope you get a little sunshine soon!

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  25. Karen, this was such a sweet post. I felt all warm and cozy enjoying your hot soup and warm bread. One thing about the Seattle area is that your air is always fresh and smells so good. I love the sweet smell of the forest as we travel over the mountains to get from here to there. Lovely post :)
    Your blogging sister, Connie :)

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  26. Irish brown bread and chicken/rice soup... Yummmm. I busted out laughing at the "we don't tan, we rust" line. Also, in Florida socks and sandals are what we wear during the winter, lol. Beautiful photos!!! Enjoy your Star Lilies! :)

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  27. Dear Karen,

    Rainshine in Holland as well :-)! Your soup sounds delicious. It's just what we need with this sort of weather.

    Happy day!

    Madelief x

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  28. Great flowers and scenery. I had no idea that you had a regular temperature of 50. Interesting.

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  29. I don't know, Karen - around here 50 degrees is COLD! I don't take off my shoes and don shorts unless it is at least 85. haha It's all relative, but it looks like y'all were able to have a wonderful celebration in spite of the rain. <3

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Thank you for stopping by! Your comments are important to me and are very much appreciated. xx Karen

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