Snow Daze...II?

 

 

This is day two of the big I-40 storm that crossed like from Colorado to Wrighstville beach, NC. We got six inches, which is enough to empty the shelves of any grocery store or mini-mart within miles, beer and fritos usually the first to go. My grocery cart was full of veggies for my famous soups, stews, and salads. (oh my!) Since my blog is mainly about food, wine, and friends I will start off by saying we had wonderful homemade blueberry pancakes today with warm agave syrup, spinach omelettes, and mango slices. Organic decaf coffee made an appearance too. Lunch will be ratatouille made by my daughter and I after we watch the movie for the 700 millionth time. Hopefully that counts as dinner too so I don't spend all day cooking. We'll soon head over for more sledding at Hayes and Nicole's house and then indoors for a nice fire, games, and snacks. That's about all going on here. Back to work tomorrow...

 

  

  

  

 

Snow Daze

So we ended up getting 6 inches of snow, which equals an inch per episode of "LOST" season 5 I watched under the blankets in my pjs. Dude, stinko for Juliett. Anyway, as hard as it was to peel the pjs off we finally did it and drove down the road to our friend's home for a bit of sled action. (They live just far enough away not to hike in the snow with a kid) They live on a huge hill that basically counts as a mini-mountain. After about 45 minutes, we called it quits. Why suffer in the miserable dampness of the snowy evening when a roaring fire and unlimited glasses of Prosecco awaited us? Exactly. Our friends, Hayes and Nicole, live in beautiful cabin home surrounded by deep woods. They have lots of curtainless picture windows in which the likes of cardinals, blue jays, and baltimore orioles came up to feed at the tiny troughs on the outside sill. The Prosecco was traded in for a wonderful bubbly from Spain to get us in the mood for our trip to Madrid in a few weeks. We four helped to prepare dinner: a lovely root veggie stew with yams, butternut squash, turnips, onions, olive oil, and dried herbs from their garden. I also did up some garlic, herb, and olive oil bread under the broiler. We invited their neighbor Karen over, who has some neat job studying poultry and fowl. She brought over some amazing home-cooked collards and we ate and ate and ate while discussing everything from Karen's son who lives in Florence, Italy to what we were all putting in our upcoming communal gardens. My little girl helps feed and care for Karen's horses and loves all things Karen. Karen left after dinner to care for her six dogs and eighteen cats and the rest of us sat around the fireplace until Hayes busted out the Oreos, which he dropped most on the floor and I think ate waaay after the 30 second rule. Time to go.
I was going to post a  picture of snow. But it was from my trip to Canada with my sister, not from here, so that would be like lying which I feel uncomfortable with. I thought I may be able to get away with it, but Niagara Falls was in the background and for you smarties out there you probably would know it's not NC.

Blog, Blog, Blah

Today is Friday. Big snow storm is a'comin tonight so I woke up early and was done buying my storm provisions by 8am. Well, it helps that I work at Trader Joe's and I can shop before opening time. Anyway, I bought my obligatory soy milk, Ezekiel bread, and 12 gallons of water just in case our pipes freeze. Then I made my yummy salad for lunch: spinach& radicchio mix, carrots, orange peppers, heirloom tomatoes, crab,cranberries, pecans, and whatever else crunched. Then I clothed it all in my fabulous lemon juice/herb dressing complete with garlic parm croutons and a glass of "Well Read" wine. All this before 11am. Yes, I'm Italian, which makes it perfectly fine to drink before "All My Children" comes on. Then I settled down on the couch between my wool throw I bought at the gift shop so tackily built next to Stone Henge and my chihuahua, Jonez. (who hates crab meat, I learned) Then, to my thrill and delight, two Spanish cooking shows came on PBS: "Made in Spain" and "Spain on the Road Again" with Gweneth Palwtrow. See, my friend Nicole and I leave for Madrid in just a few weeks, so I was really taking in the sights as GP whirled around Madrid in her silver Mercedes. Jonez yawned, more interested in the tip of his tail than the world around him. Nicole calls me as if she has ESP. "Got any plans or ideas yet for our trip?!" Yes. One very important one. We MUST go to the Prado museum and see some Goya up close. She hung up since her lunch break was over and I went back to my wine, as my girl Kaitlin texts me about our fave Thai place. Not going out tonight though. (for once!) Staying in with my dog, my baby (age 9), my man (age...) and Vino Verde. So enjoy my new blog for updates of the foods I relish (no pun intended), organic recipes, and international travels (now adding Spain to the list!). One more thing for today: "Let it snow!!"