Ok, thank you to Mother Nature – I will begrudgingly say so – thank you for the combination of yesterday’s snow and this morning’s bright light. The word console means to allay sorrow or grief and a consolation prize is given to the person who doesn’t win the contest. So, Mother Nature threw me a bone – I am consoled by the reflection off the snow of today’s sunshine, and if fact, elatedly so! In fact, this morning’s light is even brighter than a normally sunny day in my kitchen when the leaves are off the trees. So, I shall take it – I’m actually just fine with this.
The birds outside my kitchen window are having a party – well, maybe they don’t think of it as a party, per se, but I choose to think of it as such. In any event, I am happy to see them swooping, in their dip and soar fashion, back and forth to feed.
Now, I would rather be baking something yummy in the oven today than sitting here typing right now. I awoke at 6:08 and promptly went outside to shovel. Isn’t this supposed to happen in January? Well, we all know the earth is a little off its sensible game these days, so I guess being a little confused about the calendar is not surprising.
Yesterday it was experimentation on the Hunter Chicken-type recipe. Today, I will do some other things. The great light actually inspired me to polish three of my copper pots – a chore which took me a good hour and ruined the skin on my hands – I don’t wear gloves when I work, hate them. Now, I am going to have breakfast and do some other “research projects”. I guess I am not going to torture myself by looking at baking recipes all day. I think I will look around for new bean and lentil recipes. Last week’s variation on Ina Garten’s Lentil Vegetable Soup came out wonderfully. As I mentioned, I had to improvise a little as I couldn’t get leeks that day, had no celery and I am now adding some Old Bay Seasoning to the recipe, per my budding, cum gourmet(???) daughter, Christin. I think there are some recipes with lentils and sausages around so I am going to go in this direction today. Will let you know which one I make.
I am craving pumpkin pie right now. I just may try to “bake” one on top of the stove – or try the grill again. Seriously, what have I got to lose?
I am going to investigate stove top baking on the internet as well. There are many sights if you Google it. I will send along ideas and the intelligence I find to you if you should be so inspired to try this line of baking out today. Otherwise, it may just be back to the grill, after-all. I’ll just have to sweep the snow off the top first!
This morning’s breakfast: Omelet (or scramble) with shallot, tomato, basil, spinach and swiss cheese:
Really hit the spot!
Have a lovely day!
I am not the only one who wasn’t ready for this weather! So sad…..
And, last but not least, poor Callie-girl, suffering along with the rest of us:
(sitting on the kitchen counter, drinking out of a 9″ high cup of water – she does not “lower” herself to the pedestrian way of some cats and drink out of a bowl, she either sits in the sink and drinks out of a dripping faucet, or has me “prepare” a cup such as this and has a drink sitting like a princess, hence her nickname ala Ryan, “Kitty Princess”. Ok, I am a sucker for my animals, so what?