It has arrived...

 This picture was taken pretty early in the day...we probably got another 1.5 inches as time went on.  It's about 17 degrees and a little breezy out there.  And really beautiful.

  It's easy to like the weather when you don't have to go out in it if you don't want to.  All day I've been listening to people moan and groan about it, but heavens to Betsy--it IS the middle of November.  Of course, this is probably not the song I'll be singing by February, when I'm tired of the mess and the limitations and the all around depressing grey days that go on and on and on. lol


 I spent most of the day at home alone...just me and the critters. I had a pretty slow and relaxing day...made a big pot of creamy potato soup.  I opened a quart and a pint of the pork that I canned a few months ago and opened my last jar of home made bbq sauce and had bbq pork sandwiches on big hoagie rolls with soup for supper. We watched a movie, a light and silly comedy with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell. I read for a while this afternoon. This morning I finished my next blog post for Mother Earth News. I had been having some issues with posting photographs in the system they use, and finally emailed my "guy" about it. He sent me back an email and said someone else was having problems too, and IT was looking at it. So...the next time I tried, I got it to work. Yay !  So that was finished and submitted.  I folded the very last load of clothes that were in the dryer, workclothes that he will never take out of the dryer. They are always the last load that I do, because he is at work when I start it. I finish all the rest of the laundry and get them all washed dried folded and put away. Then I start that last load with the dirty workclothes from the week, stop the machine and wait for him to get home so we can wash what he's wearing and start the week with all clean clothes.  I get them washed and out in the dryer and then I always think this will be the week when he'll get his work clothes out and put them away. But he doesn't.  So, I either get them out or he will take them out one piece at a time in the morning when he is dressing for work. It drives me insane.

  I guess if this is one of the biggest sources of discontent in my marriage, we must be doing okay.  LOL  


 I got my first seed catalog this weekend.  Hold On !!  They don't usually start coming until after Christmas, do they ? I was excited and surprised to see it. At that point, the garden still had chives and parsley out there. I appreciate the seed catalogs that come in the dead of winter, filling me with hope and bliss at the thought of spring and gardens. Not so much in November when I am barely finished with all the hard work from gardening this year.

 The soup was very good...I have been experimenting with making dairy free (pretty much. anyway--I still use butter) cream soups lately. We don't use regular milk hardly at all. I do keep some cans of evaporated milk in the pantry. I also have a box of instant milk that I use in some bread recipes and when I have to make a batch of instant hot chocolate.  I have used white beans (canellini)  pureed for the thickener, I have used basmati rice too. I have used coconut milk.  There are lots of things to try. But with potato soup, I generally just make the mirepoix base with lots of celery, onions, carrots and garlic, add spring water, and then chop the scrubbed white potatoes and toss 'em in. Add some salt, pepper and granulated garlic. Cook until the potatoes are soft, then ladle out vegetables and broth into the Vitamix and puree. It gives the soup a lovely texture, as well as rich taste.  Sometimes I will also add about half a package of cream cheese to it...but not always. It gives it a layer of richness that is grand without a whole lot of dairy. 

  Tomorrow I guess I will be making a run to the market if the roads aren't too bad to pick up some wide mouth lids. I need to make a big batch of bbq sauce and can it. I used my last jar and I cannot abide store bought sauce anymore. lol  One of the problems with making things yourself all the time. I make mine from a cheaters recipe that starts with a number 10 can of ketchup. Or 2, depending on how much I want to make.  I can it in pints.  It's  a fairly easy recipe that I figured out once costs me around t 40 cents a pint to make.  And it is GOOD.  It has ketchup, tomato paste, brown sugar, molasses, liquid hickory smoke, and spices in it.  Sometimes I add finely minced onion and garlic, but not usually.  It doesn't take very long to make or can...I always pressure can it.  If I make a big enough batch of it, I can get away with only making 2 or 3 times a year. We eat a lot of bbq...plus I use it on top of meatloaf, mixed with ketchup. And inside meatballs when I make those. 


  It's getting late and I have that cold weather-hibernation feeling, so I think I'm going to head for bed.  All the critters are in and the house is quiet. Paco was gone for a couple of days after one of the dogs chased him outside...but he's back and has been in the house without leaving now for the past 48 hours + .  He's a bit of a wild boy, but am hoping he'll decide to stay. He's so adorable...

 As you can see, he's made himself right at home in here with me. 


  Here's wishing you all a restful night....




Namaste.