Comfort Food

There are times when the only thing that offers any comfort is food.  After two weeks during which we have hardly set foot outside the door due to illness, I felt the need for a taste of home.  Nipping down to the local supermarket for a packet of teacakes isn't an option here because they don't sell them.  In the past, I have attempted baking teacakes, but they did not turn out that well.  This time, I tried a recipe from Country Homes & Interiors' Magazine, which I adapted slightly, as I didn't have all of the ingredients.

The results were delicious!  The article suggested eating by the hearth, which sadly, we don't have, but they tasted great with a cup of tea.  Perfect comfort food for a cold winter's day.

It Just Kept On Snowing

 

Scenes from our street yesterday afternoon.  A neighbour out clearing the deep snow with a snow blower.

The snow on our driveway which was sculptured by the strong winds.

 

Our front garden under a blanket of deep snow.

 

The door to our basement and the steps onto the back deck.

 

I'm standng knee deep in the snow on our deck.

 

Until I fell over tryikng to turn around and couldn't get back up!

Snow

 

The blizzard started in the early hours of Saturday morning and still it continues.  Most of the time, the snow is horizontal and comes in waves.  Our attempts at clearing our paths and driveway have been fairly futile. This morning, there was little evidence that we had been outside yesterday afternoon shovelling.

 

There is more than 90cm of snow on our deck.  Anyone for a barbecue?  It's under there somewhere.

 

It could be quite some time before we venture out there.

 

 

The view from our front window.  There is a road out there, but not much movement other than a few valiant efforts by the neighbours to clear their driveways.  We're still looking at ours and wondering how we will ever get out.  The snow is so deep that our neighbour abandoned his attempts at clearing it with his ATV.

We may be stuck here until the spring, but I suppose that I will have to make some attempts to get out, as I'm working tomorrow.

Meet The New Chefs

I'm a little late in posting about my surprise Christmas presents.  I had this enormous box under the tree.  It was so long that the only thing I could imagine it contained was a pogo stick!  I'm glad to say that I was delighted to open it and discover these two sweet characters.

I think that they were intended as Christmas decorations, but they are far too cute to leave in a box for eleven months of the year, so they are now sitting on my kitchen window ledge.  I thought that they were mice, but I'm told they are rats.  I think I'll stick with my version of the story and continue to refer to them as mice.  Hopefully, they will lend a hand in the kitchen and impress me with their culinary skills....

This And That

It is almost the end of January and I don't know where the time has gone, but I must admit to being quietly pleased to see the end of this month.  We have had some of the coldest days of winter so far, with the mercury dropping to the minus 20 range and a wind chill of minus 30 for the past few days.  On days like this, I have no desire to head out of the door in the morning and my car sounds like it isn't going to make it as we head down the road.  I can't say that I blame it: I wouldn't want to go either if I spent all night out in the cold!

On the occasions when I have ventured outdoors for reasons other than going to work, I've been bundled up like I'm going to the Arctic.  I've tried to avoid spending more than a few minutes outside. 

Cabin Fever can start to set in after a while and I long for the milder days of spring, so that I can get outside and breathe fresh air again.

At least the issues with Blogger seem to have resolved for now.  One of the reasons that I haven't posted for a while was my frustration with attempts to post photographs.  I will be trying to post more frequently and hopefully catching up with you all soon.

Everything Feels Better With Chocolate

 

One of my favourite seasonal recipes is the Yule Log from Nigella Christmas.  This book is a visual delight and there is little more pleasant than sitting down with a cup of tea and planning seasonal meals whilst browsing its pages. 

 

I know that Christmas is over now, but I find it difficult to hide this book away, so it sits on the bookshelf in my kitchen, where it is easily accessible and today I am going to try another recipe, Fully Loaded Potato Skins, which I thought would make a tasty winter lunch.

 

Incidentally, the Yule Log was delicious, as always and I thought that it looked sweet with its dusting of icing sugar snow and the deer.

Welcome to 2013

I've been slow in posting this New Year, but better late than never.  The year arrived with a period of extreme cold weather ~ we seem to be in a deep freeze, with temperatures down in minus 17 C and wind chills as cold as minus 25 C.  With those kinds of temperatures, the motivation to do anything seems to have gone and I could quite happily hibernate until the spring.

Oh well, life goes on.  I wish all of my readers and followers a Happy New Year and all best wishes for 2013.  Maybe some of you will come out of the shadows and leave a comment this year.  I know you are out there! 

Apologies for the lack of photographs, but there is an issue with Blogger again and I cannot attach any pictures to my posts at present.