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# Everything I cooked in a week of rain
- URL: https://millie.ghost.preview.themeanax.com/everything-i-cooked-in-a-week-of-rain/
- Published: 2026-07-12T08:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-06T05:50:31.000Z
- Description: Seven days of grey skies, one small kitchen and a diary of every meal that kept me cheerful.
- Author: Millie Hart
- Tags: Kitchen, #Import 2026-10-24 10:34

Last week it rained in Lisbon for seven days straight, which the radio described as “exceptional” and Dona Fernanda described as “a punishment”. I didn’t leave the flat much. I did, however, cook a great deal, and I wrote it all down, partly for you and partly so I could prove to Rosie that I ate vegetables.

## Monday to Wednesday

**Monday.** The fridge was nearly empty and I wasn’t going out, so: a pan of onions cooked very slowly in olive oil until they were brown and jammy, a tin of chickpeas, a spoon of smoked paprika, two eggs cracked into the middle and lidded until just set. Eaten from the pan with yesterday’s bread. The windows steamed up and I felt very pleased with myself.

**Tuesday.** A dash downstairs to Senhor Abel, who had kale, carrots and a lecture about my umbrella. Made a big pot of bean and kale soup with a parmesan rind I’d been hoarding. It improved every day for the rest of the week, as soups do, like a slightly smug friend.

**Wednesday.** Bread day. I tried a no-knead loaf that I left proving by the oven because the rest of the flat was cold. It rose sideways, like a rugby ball, and tasted wonderful. Lunch was the end of it with butter and salt. Dinner was the soup again, plus a fried egg on top because I deserved it.

## Thursday and Friday

**Thursday.** The low point. I ate crackers and a whole wedge of São Jorge cheese standing at the counter and called it lunch. In the evening I rallied: rice cooked in stock with peas from the freezer, lemon zest and a lot of black pepper. A risotto in spirit, if not in technique.

**Friday.** Supper club night, rain or no rain. Eight of us, damp coats piled on my bed. I made a big tray of chicken thighs roasted on potatoes, garlic and lemon, with olives thrown in for the last ten minutes. Ana brought a salad; João brought wine and a guitar nobody asked him to play. For pudding I made [my grandmother’s lemon cake](https://millie.ghost.preview.themeanax.com/my-grandmothers-lemon-cake/), which was gone before I’d sat down.

## The weekend

**Saturday.** Leftovers dressed up: shredded chicken in a tortilla with the last of the olives, a quick pickle of red onion, a handful of coriander. Eaten on the floor by the heater while the rain ran down the skylight in sheets.

**Sunday.** Slow porridge with grated apple and cinnamon in the morning, then nothing until four, when I made a pot of tea and buttered toast with marmalade and finally — finally — saw a patch of blue over the castle. I went out without a coat just to prove a point. I came back in for the coat.

Looking back over the list, I’m struck by how little of it was planned. Most of it came from a nearly empty cupboard and the stubbornness that rain brings out in me. If there’s a lesson, it’s to keep onions, a tin of beans and a cheese rind in reserve, always. The weather will do the rest.