POTLUCK

The trailer kitchen

Me and the Ratatouille

Joe and Gwen making gnocchi

A common Port Townsendien pastime is attending potlucks. People are always either going to one or have just come from one. I was blessed with having been invited to the Krommel Manor potluck since coming to Port Townsend. Every Sunday evening at 7:30pm my friends Joe and Gwen (inhabitants of the manor) open their doors to whoever would like to attend. There is always a theme, often decided during digestion from the last week’s potluck. Themes since I’ve arrived have been the color red, guilty pleasures, pies, cheese, show and tell, your heritage, make something you’ve always wanted to make but haven’t, and I can’t remember any others at the moment. This coming week's is iron chef, the secreat ingredient is sweet potatoes.

This past Sunday's was make something you’ve always wanted to make, so I made ratatouille. I’m a list writer and on my personal list of to do’s, I have a little corner for things I want to make. Ratatouille may have been on there the longest, gazpacho is a close second.

PT folk are pretty heavy into eating local, organic, fresh food. And eating out isn’t really that big, which is great since I have a meager budget, so I’ve been inspired to do more cooking that I normally do. The trailer kitchen doesn’t lend to cooking since you only have about a 12in X 18in area of workspace. I’ve made the best of it though and creations like ratatouille, quiche, breads, mini cheesecakes, and a few cobblers have been known to make their way out the trailer door.

I don’t know where the ratatouille idea came from. A part of me just likes the name. I had no clue what was even in it, despite having seen the movie, which I enjoy. So I found the recipe online and had hopes of making it from all local fresh veggies (for some reason I thought ratatouille had meat but in fact it is all vegetables) but I waited too long and there aren’t a ton to be had lately. But I found all the ingredients at the grocery store and started chopping. It was really easy, just lots of quality time with the old knife. It turned out well, just a veggie goulash. Healthy too! But I have to say, it wasn’t as much of a hit as the mini cheesecakes with handpicked fresh blackberries on top that I made for cheese night. Now onto figuring out what to do with sweet potatoes...