So, I don't know if you've noticed, but it's snowing.A lot.
I realize that it's not snowing on all of you, mind. I'm just saying that here? In my little northwesterly portion of the county? It is SNOWING. At rates as much as an inch or more an hour. At the right is what my front yard looked like last night at about 5 p.m. I had an appointment this morning at 8 a.m. It was humorous enough to swipe 4 inches of snow off my car, which I had driven home only the night before. It was quite another thing to wipe another 1.5 to 2 inches off of it again when I was done with said appointment exactly one hour later. Below is what my place looked like at about 9:30 a.m. Notice my neighbor's busted ass car is almost entirely buried.
When I came home, I got my ass to shoveling. Oddly enough, it made me feel sort of giddy. We haven't had many years of this magnitude in my lifetime. The last one was in '97 the year before I went to college and the only one that comes close in my memory would be the winter of '85-'86. Now that was a winter! The snow actually accumulated up over the heighth of our chain link fence and my little 5 year old self had the time of her life creating a vast network of tunnels in our front yard. These tunnels became so sacred to me that I refused to make snow angels in our own yard for fear of destroying them. Fortunately we had elderly neighbors who were more than happy to let me angel up their front yard so long as I didn't push snow onto their shoveled front walk.
And speaking of shoveling... I've never been a fan, however the beauty and excitement of our new winter wonder land had energized me and I went to with a will. I was particu
larly enamoured of the bush in our front yard. There's a bunny who has his burrow somewhere in its base. His name is Bob, by the way. Every now and then I see Bob's prints meandering across the lawn. I hope he's not stuck in there now, or that he at least has enough food to last him, because I don't think he's getting out of there any time soon.
larly enamoured of the bush in our front yard. There's a bunny who has his burrow somewhere in its base. His name is Bob, by the way. Every now and then I see Bob's prints meandering across the lawn. I hope he's not stuck in there now, or that he at least has enough food to last him, because I don't think he's getting out of there any time soon. By the way, I paused in front of the bush and contemplated the snowy avalanche I would be rewarded with if I tried to shovel under the weighed down branches and decided to be lazy and let it go. My neighbors hadn't shoveled their walk yet so I figured apathy would beget apathy on this one.
Let me just say this to anybody here who might be considering driving somwher
e - If you feel you absolutely have to, please please please be aware of where you are. Look for mile posts and crossroads and know the name of the road you're on. Seriously. If you don't know where you are then the ambulance won't know where you are.
e - If you feel you absolutely have to, please please please be aware of where you are. Look for mile posts and crossroads and know the name of the road you're on. Seriously. If you don't know where you are then the ambulance won't know where you are.The roads have steadily been closed down over the past few days in the area and, being a planner type as well as working with the public, I knew it might be a good idea to stock up on essentials. Therefore, here I am in my warm, cozy apartment with nothing but my room-mate, a pantry full of cooking options and two (!) seasons of law and order SVU to watch.
I smell a cooking spree, don't you?
I've had this idea for a fig and mascarpone tart since Thanksgiving. I was particuarly ambitious this year since it was my first time hosting and I made 4 different kinds of ba
klava: pecan, walnut, almond and cashew. It was not only my first time making baklava, something I'd seen done many times before and always wanted to try, but also my first shot at working with phyllo. The dough had been on sale, so I stocked up on it. Though the resulting baklava was delicious, I kind of ended up baklava-ed out, so the dough has been sitting in my freezer awaiting a project of some kind.
klava: pecan, walnut, almond and cashew. It was not only my first time making baklava, something I'd seen done many times before and always wanted to try, but also my first shot at working with phyllo. The dough had been on sale, so I stocked up on it. Though the resulting baklava was delicious, I kind of ended up baklava-ed out, so the dough has been sitting in my freezer awaiting a project of some kind. And this is it - step one is making a compote of sort out of dried mission figs. I'm adding a lot of lemon zest and juice so the fruit portion will be nice and tart to contrast the richness of the mascarpone cream and butteriness of the phyllo. By the way, I'm quite adamant about using lemon zest. In my opinion there's hardly a recipe calling for lemon juice that couldn't benefit from running the lemon over the fine side of cheese grater. In addition, the picture illustrates one o
f my more favored tricks - when you juice the lemon lay your grater over the bowl so it catches the seeds. Look at that! You crazy multi-tasker, you!
f my more favored tricks - when you juice the lemon lay your grater over the bowl so it catches the seeds. Look at that! You crazy multi-tasker, you!Take note the of the catch phrase on the fig bag. I wasn't aware that I was also purchasing a pouch full of irony along with my dried fruits. Oh maiden of the dried grape, how you mock me. Fortunately I'm going to have a nice slice of consolation shortly.
Also to be made today - kielbasa and tortellini soup. Care to join me? Just make sure you don't have to drive too far to get here.
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