Snow and Food. Food and Snow

It just keeps coming. Another six inches last night. The perfect white powdery kind that resembles the fake snow you use for a Christmas village. I love this stuff. Jerry was somewhat off the hook this morning, as he ran out at 7 AM for a beekeeper's seminar in Albany. However, being the upstanding guy that he is, he DID walk the big dogs, and cleared the porch AND my car. The big dogs are both pathological liars though. They wake up with me at 8 and both go through the "I need to go out immediately" dance, of which I responded by taking them out for a nice walk and being a responsible Master. When I got inside, I saw the note from Jerry on the kitchen island; "Both dogs have been walked, have a nice day". Those sons of bitches (in the truest sense of the word) both lied to me, and I was forced to walk around out there in the 14 degree weather when they had already been out. Now the fresh air and the walk certainly won't kill me. But the timing was a little rough. I hadn't yet had a cup of tea, and I was somewhat groggy. Speaking of tea, I purchased a "whistling" tea kettle yesterday, because I have gotten into the habit of turning on tea water, walking away and forgetting about it. It has not been a bit problem yet, either Jerry or I will walk past the stove and say "are you making tea?" But I figured before there is a tragedy I'd best remedy the situation. I guess that means I'm getting old, forgetting about putting something on the stove and walking away. Should I be concerned? I don't think its quite that bad yet. I got out for a bit yesterday, doing some grocery shopping in Gloversville. I switched out our grocery store this week just to break up the monotony. I tend to get the same things all the time, which gets a little boring when food is our activity. So, the new grocery store was an interesting jaunt. A very different clientele, and much different food choices. I think next week I'll go back to the Johnstown, because I missed the larger veggie section. I am making vegetable soup today, because it's just Allison and I, and I could use some nutritional variety. We're getting quite adept at cooking on the old cookstove. Allison has become proficient at biscuits and cookies, I am learning the intricacies of the oven as well and have perfected cakes and breads. Jerry cooks everything perfectly. Except of course, the sauerkraut. I read his blog the other day and had to disagree (internally, of course). Being of irish descent, the secret ingredient of all german cookiing does not sit well with me. Anything sour is an immediate turnoff. His pork roast was to die for. The sauerkraut? Not so much. I prefer the irish way of adding brown sugar to sauerkraut, which gives it the same golden color, but renders it sourless. More of a sweet and carmelized cabbage concoction. This horrifies my little liebchen, so we both cook it our way when we're in charge of the roast. Neededless to say, I concede the kitchen more often than Jerry, and usually doctor my sauerkraut in the crockpot with country-style pork chops. We manage to co-exist in this little country kitchen, and it works out fine. As you can see from our picture yesterday, we're not suffering in the food department. Laately, we've been cooking together, which is fun. We came up with a soup recipe that used turnips (rhutabegas) and vegetables and the secret ingredient in the broth was raw honey. It was fabulous. It's a good thing those dogs got me out this morning. Now that I look at that picture again, maybe we'll go for another walk.