Monday Morsels: A Rainy Day

Morsels:  Tasty bites from the past few days...

Everything has recently been covered with a fresh layer of white, but before that we had our first real rain of the year and it sure felt like spring.  This crazy warm weather is making me feel ready to get out and garden, prepare my hives for their coming occupants, and clean up around the yard.  But really, we're not quite there.  I was chatting with a friend who was lamenting the lack of quiet stillness this winter.  Without the snow to shush everything and trap us inside for a bit we've hardly slowed down.  

In New England we're so used to cramming in as much as possible during the nice months, that I wonder if it will be difficult to find our pace this spring without the balance of a slow winter.  

Perhaps we'll learn to roll with it, chill out, and take our quiet time as we need it as they do in Hawaii--or if we'll just run ourselves ragged trying to fit in even more before next winter.   

For now we'll do what we can with what we've got, which on this day meant a whole lot of water on slippery ice.  

Morsels:  

  Turnips from a local farmer                         

* I almost hated to eat these beauties.  I had this crazy vision of gluing them to the wall in some form of abstract art.  In the end I just roasted them with some salt and olive oil.  They were good like that too.

*  We've traded our jackets and snow boots for sweaters and rain gear.
The "frog bog" path is seeing a lot of use on these warmer days.  No frogs yet.

* This is the start of Curried Coconut Lentil Soup from Jack Bishop's "A Year of Vegetarian Cooking".  I couldn't resist a photo of all those rings. (I have a kind of a thing for circles these days).  I added several root vegetables to the recipe because we had them on hand.  This is one of my favorite soups.  Kale and I had it for dinner and breakfast, though other kids don't love it quite as much.  I made the leftovers into savory "pancakes" (mixed with two eggs and some almond flour) served beside frittata later in the week.

* I made these pants for Kale early last week.  They are corduroy outside and fully lined with an old cotton shirt. They are super cozy but don't fit him as well as I'd like.  Oh well.  Bittle Bro's so cute the boy can wear anything.  I originally just had the star in front, but when he saw them he said, "where's the moon?" Here you go Lovey, star and moon pants, "now you cannot be cold"  (a much quoted line from "Little Bear").

* Perhaps the last snowmen of the season...

* A thoughtful Bittle

Happy Monday!