Rain in August? Make Stock!

We will often get a couple of days in February or March where the temperature heads up into the seventies and the sky turns from dark grey to sparkling blue. People will haul out their shorts and sandals from under the parkas and fleece in their closets and take to their gardens with gusto, only to be foiled by the inevitable inundation that is early spring here in the Willamette Valley.

This month has been similarly disorienting, with cool, rainy days that are nothing if not autumnal. I actually made a casserole and, last night, I even roasted a chicken...in the oven! If that's not a depressing thing to do in the middle of August, then I don't know what is. But looking past the need to wear a jacket and...gasp...jeans when I walk the dog, I can do something positive. And that, to me, means taking the chicken carcass from the carved-up bird, combining it with the vegetables and wine from the bottom of the roasting pan and water and making a big pot of chicken stock. After all, come October and the return of the rain, a freezer-full of stock will come in handy for that nice pot au feu or risotto or...