Cozy Down

The rainy cold weather has kidnapped me and taken me back to the beginning of March. It's all about cozying down around here. Books are read, recipe books are read, baking is considered ;>, general tidying is done, and there's a whole lot of puttering going on. Not only that, we flea marketed for the first time in several weeks.

My finds:

a book and shovel

A book and shovel. (I am making no editorial comments with this picture.) I found the book; John found the shovel. He reminded me that back in his day, toy shovels were made out of steel not plastic and stood the test of time. With two little grandsons, boyhood is receiving a nod around here.

A cookbook was also purchased—The Modern Country Cook by Leslie Land. It joins more current cookbooks in a place of honor. (Anything displayed with The White House Cookbook is held in high regard.) The first paragraph of the Introduction reads this way:

The kitchen is cozy and bright, washed in the pure light of coastal New England October, warmed by the big black iron stove. As usual, the place is more or less decorated with food. There's a bowl of apples on the table —tart Northern Spies from the farmstand down the road. Ripening tomatoes laid out side by side make an abstract sculpture on the countertop; and on the windowsill there's a bouquet of feathery dill branches, dark parsley, late asters and chrysanthemums in pink, purple, and white.

    

In the pantry...

If you want to know what's in the pantry, you'd enjoy this book. I always appreciate a good essay and Leslie writes exceptional ones. Her chapter entitled "The Dairy Defended" is fascinating and explains a lot. Did you know that there is no way to use modern dairy products in a home kitchen and have the result be the same as if you purchased dairy straight from the farm? (I imagine that Judy knows something about this. She and Elmer run a dairy farm in British Columbia and she and a few friends have written a cookbook themselves, a nice blue one.) I have permission from Leslie to share a recipe from another cookbook she wrote. Now that I actually have maple syrup in my pantry, I should do that tomorrow. Leslie can always be found in my sidebar. She is an extraordinary gal with lots of recipes, tips, gardening ideas, and more.

Have yourself a cozy day...