Comfort food for a rainy day

Action shot: End of hour 1

I really thought I'd be able to get something done in the garden today. I guess it would have helped if I'd looked at the weather forecast; then I would have known I'd be stuck inside, watching through the window as everything disappears under several inches of water.

Luckily, the vegetable garden is designed with raised beds and low paths. The paths, which are perpendicular to the slope, take up all the extra water and divert it to a central drainage ditch. I dug the ditch last year after thousands of newly planted seeds were flushed downslope by a storm. It seems to work pretty well.

No idea, of course, how all my new trees and bushes are faring.

So here I was, indoors, and I opened the fridge to find a nearly-too-old quart of organic milk staring me in the face. I thought about it for a moment, then preheated the oven.

This recipe is Nana's. In the recipe book she made for us grandkids before she died, it's called "Little Boy's Pudding." But she always just called it rice pudding. It's so simple, you'd think it couldn't possibly work. But it does!

RICE PUDDING
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix 4 Tbs. dry rice with 6 Tbs. sugar and 1 quart of milk in an oven dish. Bake 3 hours, or until creamy inside and dark golden brown on top.