{You're all so kind. Thanks for the warm words yesterday. Greta says thank you too!}
. . . . . .
This has been the snowiest and coldest winter I can remember, and we're only just beginning January! On Saturday morning, we went out to chores in minus seventeen degree weather (without the windchill). I returned inside to practically sit on top of the wood stove in hopes of warming up. With two layers of wool long johns, extra socks, hat and sweater to boot. It didn't work. And with the promise (threat?) of the thermometer reaching a grand zero at a high point in the day, I knew I needed another plan for staying warm. When knitting (a blanket, no less!) by the fire isn't enough to keep warm, there's only one other place to be, as far as I can tell. The kitchen. Next to a busy oven...all day long!
8 am, Leftover oatmeal muffins. A required oven temp of 400 degrees? Yes, please!
9 am, with a table full of my people eating muffins, wash every dish, jar (oh, the jars! from all that milk!), spoon and fork piled up by the kitchen sink. I so appreciate the warm water of washing dishes on cold, cold days.
10 am, mozzarella time (I like Rikki Carroll's recipes). Because holding one's hands in 185 degree water (with gloves, of course) and getting fresh yummy cheese at the end of it, is most definitely warming right down to the soul.
12 noon, I've got to find something to do with all that mozzarella, and 'something' that requires the oven to be super high? Yeah, pizza for lunch will do. There are no complaints.
3 pm, a little bit of rice pudding (I double this recipe) keeps us all happy and our bellies warm. (Anything that requires eight cups of milk is a win in my book, anyway.)
5 pm, a family favorite for dinner - pan to oven pork chops with rosemary and garlic, gravy, mashed potatoes, and beets. Oh so good.
6pm, call it a day in the kitchen as I move from the kitchen stove to the wood stove, with a hot toddy in my hand (I make mine with Bulleit Rye, lemon juice, honey, and water - sometimes black tea. Cider + Rye just shared a good toddy formula). With a side of Swan's Island merino, the warmth is all around...and within.
Snuggling into bed not much later - with flannel sheets and down comforters and hot water bottles at our feet - I am convinced it was a warm day, after all. It really was.
