The virtues of winter

[rosarugosa]

Catherine: The salt cellar is intriguing. Is the advantage in keeping moisture out somehow, or is it that the delivery method is via small spoon instead of tiny, easily clogged holes?

I agree with others who mentioned hot food. Sandwiches and salads are great, but hot food in a bowl is wonderful in its season.
Even outside of tourist areas, parks and walking trails are less crowded, and that is certainly a plus.
We see hooded mergansers in the river in the winter only, and I just love them!

[catherine]

Catherine: The salt cellar is intriguing. Is the advantage in keeping moisture out somehow, or is it that the delivery method is via small spoon instead of tiny, easily clogged holes?

I really don't know how much humidity is kept out. They are made with various materials, including stone, so that may help. But there are no little holes to get clogged up. You can use a little spoon, or you can just use your fingers to pinch what you want. Depends on how germaphobic you are, I guess. DH and I do the pinch, but I do offer little spoons when guests come.

BTW, there was a really interesting scene in Billions with 4 minutes of just watching Paul Giamatti make eggs for his daughter and his new billionaire friend. When they sat to eat, they used a salt cellar without the little spoon-and actually, the billionaire friend tossed a little salt over his shoulder. It was an intriguing scene, actually. 4 minutes with no dialogue, just a "from above" stage picture of these three people in the kitchen, making and eating eggs.

[razz]

Not a TV watcher, so I had to google what you talking about. I have never even heard about this TV show series and it has been going since 2016?

[iris lilies]

Too bad, I just sold all my little salt spoons to Silver Queen.

[rosarugosa]

I thought of another one, although this one is a bit pathetic. I love to see the moon at night, especially when it's full. In the summer, I'm often not awake late enough to see it rise above the nearby trees, but in the winter, the rising moon is more accommodating of my early bedtime.

[iris lilies]

I dont want ro live in a place without 4 seasons, even if the winters are wimpy like Terry says. We call St. louis “The Tropics” because compared ro
northern Iowa winters they are mild. Today is 12 degrees F tho.

[catherine]

I thought of another one, although this one is a bit pathetic. I love to see the moon at night, especially when it's full. In the summer, I'm often not awake late enough to see it rise above the nearby trees, but in the winter, the rising moon is more accommodating of my early bedtime.

Not pathetic at all!! And when the sky is kind of icy, and the moon has a halo, it's gorgeous.

[dado potato]

This morning before the sun came up it was -27F (windchill -35F). I like having some cozy indoor things to do.

I lit about 10 candles out on the sun porch. The radiant flooring thermostat said it was 73F, but the foliage of the plants was close to windowpanes (closer to 40F than 73F at floor level).

I wrote a letter and mailed it to my grandson. I enclosed a map of the area where he lives, and I indicated where he could find dead-end gravel roads, marshes and wilderness, just a few miles from his home.

The Sunday New York Times came today. I read bits of it, wearing a warm cap like an old man in Gstaad.

[jp1]

I would love to be part of the "soup on cold days" crowd. Like most people I love a good hot soup on a cold day. But I don't eat beef. And SO doesn't eat beans. I suppose that still leaves chicken soup but I've never actually made that. Perhaps I need to find a chicken and dumplings recipe or something.

Winter here in coastal northern california isn't as dramatic as winter is in many other places. But it's still dramatically different from summer. I like some of the differences but I also like the fact that I can go hiking with just a few more clothes and with boots that can handle a little mud. And in winter I tend to pick trails on the south side of the hill. In the summer those trails are brutally hot unless one gets out on them as soon as the sun has come up. But in general the trails are as busy as ever, if not more so, since honestly it's nice to not sweat like a pig when out for an energetic walk.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I eat a limited amount of red meat, just once or twice a month, and never made soup with it, but the no beans either would be hard. Chicken soup is good, Joy of Cooking recipe for chicken soup is good, hard to go wrong with chicken soup. Then there's chowders, like salmon chowder. And cream of vegetable soups (like broccoli) though they seem more rich than healthy, I've made them occasionally. Potato soup, but hardly ideal for diabetics. Vegetable soup (but less filling without beans etc.) - I've made pistou, veggie soup with pesto basically, rich and oily. The soups I make most are chicken (with noodles but that's hardly necessary) and lentil (I have 3 versions of lentil soup).