Fast food and Valentine's cookies

 Yesterday's local police chief's posting

And this morning's view from the bedroom

Yesterday I found a great fast food lunch idea. Yellow potatoes, microwaved to tender, diced, fried in avocado oil with cumin and kosher salt, in separate pan minced garlic and parsley

tossed together with the crisp browned potatoes, egg fried in the garlic pan

and put on top

spicy and interesting, definitely worth doing. It has an exotic name which escapes me.

Then, since Valentine's day is nearly on us, chocolate cookies happened.

Some with walnuts, some without. Neighbors are getting to share these, and the little boy next door has a nut allergy.

And here's a feast of white work, good to see on a snowy day, exquisite work from Yolanda in Provence

The sparrow below is Nuggie, thrown out of the nest to die because of his deformed feet, found on the sidewalk looking like a tiny pink chicken nugget.  He was brought in to be hand reared and now brightens the days of a costume designer struggling with severe long covid and a disastrous loss of income. Nuggie, with his big personality, has his own online fans who keep him supplied with food.

 And he supplies hope to his humans. 

I thought you might like to know his story because we all have days like this comic

Happy day everyone, use your cloak to suit your mood! 

Today's an at home, no knitting group snow day, probably featuring laundry and chickpea pancakes, it being Pancake Tuesday.

Snow prep, vaccine routine, poetry and other thoughts about the universe

Another heavy snow forecast, which came true today, so yesterday I did snow prep, which consisted of doing the laundry in case power went out, unusual, but it could happen.  And finally, finally, getting around to baking bread. Thanks to Friko, whose comment reminded me that it would be good to have some around.

I don't know why I put off making bread. It's so satisfying, and when it's rising you can smell the yeast at work.  It's alive almost as soon as you've mixed the ingredients. Anyway, for whatever reason, here's the latest giant loaf, which is to be separated into four for freezing.  The sign of the cross is not only a thing bread physically needs, to break the rise, but can be a devotion, too, if you're inclined that way, which I am, thanking whoever invented bread and created the means of making it.

It's whole wheat and white, 5 cups whole wheat, 2.5 of white.  And it makes a lovely crisp crust, not as crisp as if I used some oatmeal, but this time I didn't choose to.  And the crumb is dense and great to eat.

I like a nice sturdy bread that looks like something to eat.  Not full of air.  Here you see the crumb, where the small airholes are the result of the ap flour. If I wanted an even denser loaf, I'd just use wholewheat, and have sometimes.

And here's comfort food last thing last night. Homemade strawberry jam spread on the first slice of the loaf.  Great.

So, here are the obligatory snow pix

Same as last time, basically, about eight inches to a foot, with ice on top eventually, just to make it shiny, I guess.  Every winter I marvel that there will be a time, dv, that I'll sit out on that chair reading peacefully and wondering if I should come in to cool off.

So this morning was all about morning routine, which is looking like this these days:

 

wake up, open window, breathe in lovely air, close window before house freezes, or this morning, bedroom fills with snow.

 

make pot of tea and pancakes, sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar, the pancakes not the pot of tea

 

eat in front of therapy lamp, to which I attribute my much better sleeping this winter

 

check in vaccine possibilities, state, nothing, county, nothing, local hospital, sorry folks, CVS scheduler down, sorry, Walgreen's nothing nearer than 25 miles, and they declined to tell me where anyway, RiteAid let me get as far as picking a pharmacy, then declined to continue.  Froze on the continue button.  Okay, done my best.  Again.

 

And today a friend whose profession is communications, commented that she had a very badly written user guide to a bit of medical equipment she's currently attached to, had to call the 800 number to find out how to proceed. She used to write stuff like this guide, only much better, and wishes fervently she could have got the job of writing this one.  Now here's the thing. She's also a poet.

 

At first I marveled that my friend the poet was very happy also writing instruction manuals, user guides.  Until it dawned on me that poetry is the user guide to the psyche, and, by extension, to the universe.  So, not so surprising after all, then. And her Twitter comments are often mini poems.  She's started incorporating them into her longer works, with quite a bit of success. In the sense of creating good art, not in the sense of getting famous, but I expect you know my definition of success at this point. Go, Kate!

Win a few, lose a few here and there...

 So this is why for the second time I had to postpone my lab work.  Last time the big snowfall came.  This time the medium one, and at the time I would have had to leave, fasting, no plowing done, no walkways shoveled, would have needed to sweep my car.

So it's going to be later in February.  As long as that doesn't trigger another snowstorm. I'm beginning to feel responsible for the weather.

And CVS finally received some vaccine in NJ.  In a handful of locations. All fully booked before most of us even knew about it. But nothing in driving distance for me anyway. Everything I check daily gives me endless lists of fully booked, fully booked, I now sing a little tune to it.  So it's more than annoying when friends text me to urge me to get the vaccine, as if I weren't somehow trying to get it.  Or bragging that they got it for their parents.  In states where it's available.  Just miss me with that, thank you.

However, I did have the energy to cook this morning, wanting to make room for tomorrow's Misfits box.  So it was the rest of the frozen sweet potato gnocchi.

 

 And a sort of dish made from broccoli, scallions, the rest of the roasted garlic, pink salt, haven't used that in ages, nutmeg, with Parmesan and Vermont Sharp Cheddar grated over, and two beaten eggs added in.  I'd nuked the broccoli for two minutes before filling the dish.

This made three full meals.  Tomorrow after Misfits arrives,  there will be salad, always a high point of the menu around here, the Friday night salad.

And online I've been following the daily short videos of world class violinist and nice person, Hilary Hahn, doing 100 Days of Practice on Twitter.  To see someone who is one of the best on the planet actually learning new music, often commissioned by her, she loves modern composers, struggling now and then with fiendishly difficult bowing, explaining her process.

How the last year without the constant travel and performance has let her muscle and muscle memory lose their edge, and need to be built back.  It's amazing.  And very cheering.  Especially when her two year old daughter comes in and starts:  Mommy, practice SLOOOOOW.  Not too fast, now!  She knows her mother's technique of working out everything in slow motion before getting all the parts working up to performance level.

And if you're not aware of Hahn, and her genius, here she is playing Twinkle Twinkle. 

 Twinkle, twinkle, little star, Hahn

Like an incredible piece.  To Mozart it was Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman, to those of us who learned it on the piano, with variations.  I'd far rather hear it from Hilary.  As you see, a genius completely changes our relationship to even the simplest melody.  Just think what's she's doing with Prokofiev and Shostakovich and other composers she's making famous by commissioning from them.

One thing I love about her is that she likes little children, and everywhere she can, she will add to her regular concert performance a daytime brief free session of classical playing with parents invited to bring little children and babies, to sit on the floor and listen.  She's completely unbothered by kids crying or talking over her or grabbing at her knees to get closer to the music, and just plays as well for that audience as for an adult ticketed group.

I wonder how many young people  grow up with a different take on classical music from hearing it like this as a little kid, included in it, in a kind atmosphere.  She also likes to include moms who might not get the chance otherwise, too.  Not so easy to afford her concert prices and babysitting and all that comes with an evening out.

So despite my current doldrums, there are good things to be found everywhere. Including episodes of Sandi Toksvieg's ToxVox on YouTube which I listened to this morning, not being able to tolerate the news

Free at last, more or less

 So, after a day of worrying about whether my car would finally start, under the load of snow and two days of not being turned on, I got out finally this morning, only one neighbor out digging, and cut a little way through kneedeep snow to get to the car, release the driver side door, and slide in.  And it started, great relief.  I had worried about having to jump it under pressure when the plows needed it moved so they could finish the parking lot.  We have tight parking, and we have to move cars around to allow access to the plows of various sizes to get in and clear completely. 

My across the street neighbor came out to join me, dug a better path so I wouldn't fall down in the snow, and suggested I put the engine to defrost while it was running anyway.  Great idea, released the snow faster from the roof.  And now it's more or less okay to go.  He said, another Michael, my life is full of lovely men named Michael, that he could easily get it out now if necessary.  My other helpful neighbor not in evidence at all this morning.  But I know help is at hand anyway. 

Officially the storm's done by 5 p.m. today.  True nor'easter, except with snow instead of torrential rain.  Could have been worse. And very few neighbors lost power.

Car breathing again, its load of snow gone

And neighbor getting a breather across the street on his porch.  I think banana bread is in his near future.  He's a wonderful cook, so I shan't tell him what's in it, just let him analyze it.

Now I can get on to important things, like my online knitting group and the big plans I have embarked on for my jacket, all explained at https://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com.  Blogger no longer lets me link between my own blogs, so cut and paste is needed if you're interested in following up.  Give it a while, though, since I haven't yet written the latest blogpost.

Last night, in the throes of vaccine envy, I went online yet again, signed up for yet another site in addition to the all others, and found that there is still nothing available.  Unless you're in a high risk occupation or a medical worker.  Some local sites have nothing, no matter who you are. So I continue to mask and wait, but, I'm well, and capable of digging out my own car still, so there's that.

Reasonably happy camper here!  And thank you everyone who was so concerned about safety and the snow and the power and all that.  We appear to have survived again.

Wheeeee!!!

.

Movin right along, the Dollivers decide to cook

The storm having come and more or less calmed down, about ten inches of snow, not much wind, but not the huge event we were promised, the Dollivers decided that the emergency was over, so they needed to get to work in the kitchen.

Yogurt on the menu here.  Studying the thermometer to bring the milk up to close to boiling, before cooling it back down to lukewarm, and Call Me Michelle ready to add the starter, which in this case is a bit of Dannon left for the purpose. Usually it's just some of my homemade yogurt, but I wanted a change of texture.

Blondie Firstborn, not actually working, just supervising, is keeping track of the activities.  The others are still sleeping, after the excitement of the emergency preparations.

And on the patio, the suet cake I hung yesterday for the hungry birds was yanked down and run away with by a squirrel this morning. I just happened to look out and see him making off with it towards the fence. 

However, his plans fell down when he found it was too heavy to climb with and he couldn't get it under the snowbound fence. So he dropped it, and now there's a crowd of juncoes having a great feast back there.  

Still snowing, but it's looking more and more like a big snowstorm rather than a historical event. I won't bore you with snow pix, everyone knows what snow looks like..