Why Wait?

I'm referring to hot chocolate.  I lamented and shook my head as I listened to countless people talk about the huge snow storm we had last Thursday as the day they should be curling up and drinking hot chocolate or just drinking it period.  I heard this from several TV anchors and many people on FB and IG.  People, why do you need to wait for a cold, snowy day to partake of one of life's greatest and most easily attained pleasures?  Why wait for a storm?  Why not start every day with a huge cup of this nectar of the gods and flood your cells with happiness neurotransmitters, antioxidants and several other health advantages, both physical and mental?

I took a picture of my empty mug the morning of the storm just as I read another's wish for a cup of hot chocolate.   Like I have stated many times here on my blog and to those who know me, I drink hot chocolate every day regardless of the temperature or season or where I am in the world and have for most of my adult life.

Just so you don't think I am exaggerating about drinking hot chocolate wherever I am in the world, here's proof.  I took this picture a few months ago from a hotel room and sent it to Gabe and Pignose so they could see my brilliant solution for having my concoction in any hotel room that doesn't have a microwave or refrigerator.  I found a tiny electric skillet at a kitchen store that weighs next to nothing and I pack it in my suitcase along with my homemade hot chocolate blend, my red teflon whisk, my 3 cup capacity ceramic mug and an old teaspoon.  If there is a refrigerator, I stop at a store and buy some type of cold milk (dairy or nut) and if there is not refrigeration, I buy small boxes of shelf stable milk that do not require it.  I bet this sounds a bit loony but it's no less important or realistic than those who need and enjoy coffee making supplies wherever they go.  Hot chocolate simply fills my tummy and my soul, it's what I prefer to have for breakfast and afterward I go forth with optimism and well being.  Recently while staying at the house of a family member and after I had prepared and taken my hot chocolate in to another room to imbibe while I read my morning mail, this person asked my husband how I drink it every day and stay thin.  He replied that I don't sweeten mine with sugar and I most often use 25 calorie per cup cashew milk as the base.  Good cocoa powder has little fat, 10 to 20 calories per tablespoon and plenty of fiber.  If I use 2 cups of cashew milk and a glug of water (which is so delicious and tastes mild like milk, unlike almond or soy which taste too strong and un-milk like to my taste buds) at 50 calories, 3 slightly heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder at no more than 75 calories total if I'm really generous and no calories in my few teaspoons of stevia type sweetener, that's 125 calories at most (less than a cup of whole milk) and it fills my tummy to capacity and I drink it super hot so I can sip it slowly and make it last until all my morning reading is accomplished.  I feel like I have indulged in something incredibly rich and caloric yet I have not taken any sugar or anything unhealthy into my bod.  I'm asking you again, what are you waiting for?  Don't deny yourself hot chocolate while you wait for the snow bomb cyclone to hit as it did us.

Speaking of that storm, it was glorious!  We had a fully stocked refrigerator and larder, plenty of firewood just in case, thermostats turned up, movies on stand by, books to read, bird feeders filled to capacity so we could watch the hundreds of them flitting outside our windows and feeling satisfied because we were taking care of their needs, art supplies brought into the house from my freezing studio, nowhere we needed to go and a couple new cookie recipes to try to keep the kitchen even warmer and some treats for our bellies.

I made a different version of the peanut butter cup stuffed chocolate cookies I had made in December.  I made a tastier batter and added chocolate chunks along with the PB cup inside.  I also made a cookie called Chocolate Mountains which were also chocolate chocolate chip but with lots of walnuts too.  That's why you see two pictures of what seemingly look like the same cookie but if you look carefully, you will see the nuts in the first one.

 I also roasted several pans of vegetables (potatoes and onions not pictured) and sauteed some delicious wild salmon with a soy-maple syrup-orange marinade.

I worked on a couple mirror abstracts in the category of what I refer to as kindergarten art but find incredibly joy inducing and dark corner brightening and it was just a really comfy cozy cheery and cheer day.  Dan and Dane shared the snow day inside with me.  In the evening we watched two movies; Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and the Harrison Ford version of Sabrina.

(Our garage - my upstairs studio - brrr)

 The day after the storm it turned sunny but super duper cold - like unusually cold.  We've been experiencing a several week stretch of way below normal temperatures.  I love love love snow and winter but sub zero temps are a bit uncomfortable for everyone.

All kitted out to walk a block to the post office - you can't see the ear muffs covering my ears under my hat (thanks Gabe, I love this hat!).  10-15 degrees below zero with the wind chill.

 Tomorrow we are told that the temps will be back to normal levels and even above later in the week, like high 40s and even low 50s in Boston.  Whatever.  I've got all my winter projects calendared and this coming week I will paint a stair runner - a before and after is forthcoming!

 New abstract I completed recently hanging in the third floor stairway - it's a "potager" of color!

One more thing - when I was a child, I used to lie on the floor and imagine Beatrix Potter - like mice living in the walls and I envisioned a little door that I could open and look inside at their little table and chairs for eating, beds, couch and TV - you get the picture.  I spent hours in this little mouse world.   Well, when Dan and I were in the Canary Islands recently, we were at an outdoor market and one vendor had a table full of little mouse doors - I guess I'm not the only one who dreamt (or dreams) of baseboard mice dwellings.  Unfortunately, we do have mice in our old house walls and occasionally they get stuck and die and then the most unpleasant odor emits through the wall for days and days.  :(

To end this post - here's what I wore on my legs today to church - as well as a burgundy colored wool pencil skirt and a fitted plum/burgundy sweater jacket.  And a parka, gloves, hat, scarf and a fat wool throw to cover my legs as I drove to and from church  - it was minus two not factoring in the wind chill.  And it was gorgeous and sunny with cloudless blue skies - lovely!

They're Back!! And A Recipe

Wednesday morning's visitors caused a panic!  It was the first truly cold morning this fall and as I walked into the kitchen I could hear a lot of birdsong and twittering outside the windows and to my horror, several birds were pecking at my empty bird feeders looking for food.  Over the two winters we have lived here at the Rye house, I have put out feeders with a variety of seeds and just sat and waited for them to eventually find us.  And now here they were waiting for us!  I panicked, worrying that if they didn't find food right away they would go elsewhere and not return.  Immediately after my hot chocolate I headed to Ace hardware and bought many bags of seed, got the rest of the feeders out of the garage, cleaned them and then filled all eleven feeders.  I expected the birds to descend immediately on the feeders once they were filled but no, it took them three days to return.  And this morning there they were, dozens and dozens of them, all different kinds of birds at all the feeders; outside the kitchen and the two on the back porch.  Hooray!  Bird feeding and watching is one of the great pleasures of winter for me.

 I filled the feeders Wednesday and Saturday they showed up again.

 The blue birds are my favorite.

Now for a fabulous recipe that I found on Susan Branch's blog.  It's a crispy salmon and takes just minutes to make and it is the best salmon I've ever eaten!  Here's is what you do:
Crispy Salmon Steaks
Take your steaks and cut them into serving sizes.  Slice the skin off.  Salt and pepper them.  In a medium pan over medium high heat add 2 teaspoons of olive oil and heat until shimmery.  Add the salmon steaks and cook the first side about 8 minutes until they are golden and crispy looking.  Flip over and cook 4 minutes on the other side.  That's it!  They are so so delicious - tender and moist inside and crispy/crunchy on the outside.  I served them with a salad made from the last of the garden butter lettuce picked today topped with cold roasted vegetables and a balsamic viniagrette.

 The final harvest - butter lettuce, thyme and sage.

 The salmon - doesn't it look wonderful?  It is.  And we ate the two leftover steaks the following evening cold over more garden lettuce, nuts, feta, cold roasted vegetables, peppers etc - yum!

Yesterday I did the final yard clean up - all pots are emptied, all annuals pulled, all perennials cut back and now we just wait another week for a landscape company to come suck up all the leaves left on the property.  Here are some pretty garden things I brought in and some still outside doing their pretty thing.

 Oak leaves on the mantel

 Okay, I didn't grow these this year but I have for years prior.  I put white ones on that table every year and they last until early spring and then they are replaced with whatever I can find in the grocery store until fall comes again.

 I dried and pressed these and now they are Art.

 The last ones to go.

It's late November and these huge aster plants are as fresh looking as can be.  On another note, Dan and I are off to the west coast tomorrow to the San Francisco area to spend Thanksgiving with Dan's daughter Kara and her family, to visit our old stomping grounds and see old friends and then for a few days after we will be roaming up where the giant Redwoods grow.  

Grown Up Snow Day

 Another snow day!!  I decided to do only fun things today, no business of any kind, just like a school kid (well, a bit of laundry, nothing more serious than that).  First order of fun, even before my hot chocolate; go out, wade in the delicious and still falling snow, and fill up some bird feeders.  It was warmer than I imagined it would be, around 33 degrees, practically balmy compared to the last few, so I was able to remove my gloves for bird feeder manipulation.  And I sank down to my knees even though the snow was way deeper than that, and it was heavier and wetter snow falling today.

Bundled up and wearing Dan's hat; the better to shovel snow in as it doesn't pop off my head like my hats do, who knows why.  And silly excited to get out side.  

You can't tell there's a swimming pool within that fence out there. 

The provisions

3 filled, 7 to go

 The second I got in to the house, they started arriving like they'd been watching me from their hideouts and waiting.  I spend a lot of time observing our birds every day; one of winter's true pleasures.

You can't really see the color here but these are all eastern bluebirds.  They keep their wings flapping as they eat when the bird perches are too short as these are.   

The side porch off the living room that looks out over the pool area.  

More indiscernable bluebirds

The bluebird blue color didn't show up on camera but the cardinal red did.

After an hour with the birds, I decided to do some painting projects.  One I started that I left in the cellar for now, after phase one, to be revealed later.  Then I decided to work on water color.  I am having a blast learning, using books, YouTube, and just practice, practice, practice.  Today I completed four.  I'm working on light and shadow.  The three brown eggs, all identical, were a challenge.  They're not professional, but they do kinda look like eggs.  Except one.  As I painted, I listened to Pandora - Debussy and other classical pieces.

That top egg's a little iffy

Then the sun came out!!

To complete the snow day fun, I made a small batch of multi grain chocolate chip cookies I read about this morning on Design Sponge.  Basically, to a recipe like Toll House, add an extra yoke, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and instead of white flour, add the following:  1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup spelt, 1/2 cup buckwheat, 1/4 cup flax or rye flakes (I used flax).  Make as usual; bake 375 for 11 minutes.  The batter has a sandier texture, sandy color; the finished product was both chewy and crunchy and really delicious.  I just love the taste of whole grains.  The recipe's a keeper.  

Like Rye Beach sand.

A sprinkling of sea salt on top 

After all this fun, we went to our friends the Clark's house; the missionaries joined us as well, and we had dinner and discussion.  I ate one of these cookies when we arrived home.  Yum.

And here are some words to live by: