The
SoCal wildfires are still roaring. It's hot and nasty outside. I don't want to heat up the kitchen by cooking anything ornate. So tonight we're having
oven-dried tomato-topped home-made pizza, which only takes a few minutes to cook. As a simple side dish, I'll serve carrot sticks and blanched broccoli florets.
(To blanch broccoli, cut it in finger-sized spears, steam for five minutes, then plunge the veggies into a bowl of cold, unsalted water with a double handful of ice cubes. Stir the broccoli until the ice melts, then lift the spears out and roll them in a non-fuzzy dishtowel and put in the fridge.)
I
never toss leftover, unsalted cooking water down the drain. (I live in a semi-arid climate, and my city is suffering from a bad drought.) Usually I tip leftover water onto a plant outside. But today I had a great thought: Offer it to the pugs! It's cool, and it smells and tastes slightly of broccoli. The dogs loved it! Mu Shu probably drank about a quart of it in one long sluuuurp session:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTz-iQDte9HgMhgsl_ypZPB6YNj-6gZoKopTR-Gjgiyf56IfYOH_-kXKRIzP55-Mz3nbOgSeDe6uChFOjZ2Hemb6Ql3eqpiKWTgZj6s7RX1OoR0fJxrqE_IcuxNCHDsC2n-aDPKKIAiR6/s400/Blog+Photos+Sept.+2009+046.jpg)
I swear the level of the water was an inch higher when he began!:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikpEg5P64Ewdk1dFVRIXvAdktzGcKVzPp7176uG6d318JIdm-mNBF29hnf3PeR-k2H1D0-cd4X4t8AY9LH304AQHblGX-zVSdq_Kgs5TwTQe5soBFMZ81VvRvTZu8VaK3R24HEW68PM9M/s400/Blog+Photos+Sept.+2009+047.jpg)
Then Won Ton wandered over and sucked up another long, cool draught:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJn-MQpGIVpZ3kY8eFLg35wx-sfanLQlHUOWJ99gx17FFdYBCGcYY_b0veTvZfiL10nD-vtY9MsfB_tMQ4BqxWvPblVkv-8Bv-zaKAzBTQLaYlCT7Y5n8RDMvZ3tVapl2AXZ4jHIjFlN7/s400/Blog+Photos+Sept.+2009+048.jpg)
See the little bits of broccoli at the bottom of the bowl? I am sure that the dogs hydrated themselves much more because the water tasted so vegetable-y good. Just the ticket for a viciously hot day:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_wzGy10jLRBDGe-8hCtWELp_Q64r2fuXEPY6r1ZKkZJhp04SitX1pPsaWdEWXfPVMRxg3CyvcXs3pKap2kVfFOYdCpS2hLOIlN2vgYb8ha0zfRZDotlHAtSkdbtQY8aU0KebxwrEwOA6/s400/Blog+Photos+Sept.+2009+049.jpg)
Try it with your leftover--unsalted--cooking water. Your dogs or plants will thank you!
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