Good Taste

I've had this damn cold for more than a week now and I wouldn't complain about it except that I've lost my sense of smell and taste. And not I'm not talking just a little bit. It is utterly and COMPLETELY gone, as in I can't smell onions frying or that heavenly Meyers Organic lemon hand soap that gives me a lift every time I breathe it in.

I can however "taste" textures like chewy and slithery, and occasionally I get a hint of saltiness. Chicken tastes like I imagine a sock would and hot and sour soup, Earl Grey tea and chicken noodle all taste the same...hot. It's not the weight loss method I'd choose but it is having the desired effect.

It's been one of those weeks too. But in the midst of it all I find I'm ever mindful of the seemingly charmed life I lead. I am surrounded by such deep sweetness and love. Grateful for good health, even if the definition includes a few creaky bones and and a LOT of gray hairs. Grateful that we some how had the foresight to plan and save for the future, which is happening by the way, TODAY. Grateful that I am here at home on a day where I would ordinarily be up at the Ivory Tower slogging away. Grateful for it all. Every last bit of it. Grateful for the good, bad and the ugly.

Love in a Cup

Ken and I are spending this President's Day at home in jammies with the sniffles. At least we know how to cozy up at home in style. Fire's going, laptops are humming and we each have a cat by our side. Perfect day for homemade cocoa. Too much trouble you say? You'll change your tune once you've tasted it and you'll never go back to that awful powder stuff again.

Deb's Homemade Cocoa

• 1/2 cup sugar
• Good pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup powdered cocoa
• 1/2 cup hot water from the tap

Combine the above ingredients into a saucepan and whisk til it bubbles on high heat. Remove from the heat and add four cups of milk. Heat 'til warm and whatever you do, do not let it boil (trust me on this). Just before serving, stit in a capful of vanilla and a half capful of peppermint extract.

Truth in advertising...we don't drink milk in our house and all we have is half and half for our coffee. I add two cups of half and half combined with two cups of water. When I want it even richer I change up the proportions.

Think I'll go make more now, but first...

Lillie would like more cream please...

Junk Drawer

There are so many things to love about a good old fashioned country auction.

The food.

The folks.

The stuff left over stuff on the tables at the end of the night...

And what do you get when you buy the contents of a junk drawer from an old hoarder estate whose family used to run a pharmacy years and years and years ago? Three rectal thermometers still in the box (ewww), a gazillion packages of new single-edge razor blades and Little Miss Powder Mitt!  $5 buys it all. I'll spare you the photos...wonder if Salvo's will accept it all?

Foresight

 Now's the time I wish I'd had the foresight to do this

and this

and this...

 It would sure take the sting out of a 14 degree day. 

Grateful for the sun today.

Still Life

Gotta love a good snow day. If the weather reports yesterday were to be believed, you'd think the we were all going to die at the hands of this "brutal" storm. But this is Ithaca and every time we think we're going to get it, we fall right into the "dry slot".

Damn that "dry slot". I was hoping for a proper snow. I really was. Instead we've got maybe 6 or 7 inches. But hey, it's only 11am and there's evidently a lot of storm left and it appears to moving in our general direction.

Snow days are for indoor projects and I'm almost finished with a big one - dealing with the eight boxes of estate linens I bought last week. I know I said I'd sworn off selling linens but I couldn't help myself.

Put another log on the fire, crank up Folk Alley, get that second pot of coffee brewing. I'm going to be here a while.

Ready

Hello February, I'm ready for you.

Ready with indoor projects and three good books.

Ready with new soup recipes, crock pot meals and casseroles.

Ready to get comfy and just get on with it. Ready for spring in fact, but let's not get ahead our ourselves, no not just yet...

First the first time in weeks (seems like months) the temps went above freezing and we started hearing water rushing in the creek beside our house.

Spring will come.



We are off to auction again today. The buying on Friday was a little thin but still I came home with a few piles of things...things I promised myself I wouldn't buy, but somehow couldn't resist. Estate linens. The bane of my existence. I love 'em, but the cleaning, starching and constant re-folding are laborious and every time I stock our booth full I swear this is the last time...really.

Other things I can't seem to swear off lately:

• One bowl cookies
• Homemade hot chocolate spiked with dark rum
• Anything with Duxelles
• Buying Vintage Christmas stuff all year long

Happy Groundhog Day