What's in a Name...

So I've always wanted my own piece of the world wide web so here it is.

Ratatouille of life may seem like an odd name for a blog. Up until a few months ago I thought Ratatouille was a complicated French dish that only masterful chefs or rat chefs could create. Ends up it is a simple fried veggie stew which is absolutely easy and scumptionous. It is made up of zucchini, eggplants, garlic, onions, really any vegetable and most importantly TOMATOES! And Voila Ratatouille! But why name a blog after such a dish? According to Alan Davidson (The Oxford Companion to Food) the name is derived from the French words ratouiller and tatouiller which are forms of the verb touiller which means to "stir up." So I guess I could have named my blog "Stir Up of Life," but I wanted a combination. I want this blog to be about all the junk (good and bad) I put into life and what happens when you stir it up. Also I couldn't have a proper blog with out mentioning food. Food to me has become a bit of a passion. The more I travel the more I truly believe that you can only really start to understand different cultures one bite at a time. So I will be mentioning different culinary delights and adventuresI have been on. So with that here we go...Hope you enjoy my Ratatouille!

Below is an easy Ratatouille receipt

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot on medium heat. Sliver onions and add to oil.
2. While the onions cook, chop the bell peppers and add them to the pot, stirring well.
3. Chop the eggplants and add to the pot, stirring well to coat the eggplant with oil. At this point all the olive oil will have soaked into the eggplant, so you need to stir often to keep things from burning until they soften some.
4. Chop the zucchini and stir it in once the eggplant has softened a bit.
5. Chop the garlic and add to the vegetables, stirring well.
6. Chop the tomatoes and add them.
7. Mince the thyme and add it along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and cook two minutes.
8. Turn down heat and cover the pot. Simmer until everything is soft and well blended - about 40 minutes.
9. Stir in basil and remove from heat.

Things to try with your Ratatouille:

Being Hispanic I also take my Ratatouille and mix it into my Arroz con Pollo and top it off with sour cream (cream fresh in France) It is yum yum yummy!

Also I use it as pasta sauce! Or I just add it to chicken!

For more History of Ratatouille http://www.bighistory.net/the-history-of-ratatouille/