Water, water everywhere

Living in Australia, even in the rainy parts, you become much more aware of your water consumption. Shower timers are common. I was scolded by friends for leaving the tap running while washing the dishes. Washing of cars or watering of lawns with anything other than rain water is a huge no-no. It's like living on a boat. But, back in Boston, I've gotten reacquainted with my laissez-faire water usage attitude.

I had friends from oz in town this weekend, and I bragged to them about being able to take as long a shower as they liked. Not an hour later and announcements start coming that there's a massive water main break in Boston, that we're on the back-up water supply, and that we're to conserve and boil water before drinking. The irony is clear, and my immediate reaction is thirst.

I take for granted having safe drinking water. An emergency like this makes you aware of the modern conveniences that you don't even think about. Now most residents of the greater Boston area know that Cambridge is on an entirely separate water source (and has been unaffected by the break). Many local restaurants just closed rather than risk using contaminated water; others charged restaurants for the bottled water they served instead. It's pretty amazing the ripple effect (pun intended) this has had on the community.

In our house, our largest pot is the dutch oven. Unfortunately, it's a well-seasoned pot, that we use frequently for chili. Our drinking water has hints of cumin, capsicum and cinnamon.