We have been lucky enough, so far, to have power. So the choices for things to do are greater. But what have I been doing?
So far I've cooked. Snow makes a person very hungry. I'd been planning on going to a play Sunday afternoon with Terri & Jim, and had invited them to brunch. I'd planned to have something called "California Strata" from the Wichita Junior League cookbook. It's an egg and sausage casserole that's easy to have for brunch because you make it ahead. I purchased the ingredients Wednesday when I went to the store so I was ready. However this 20 inches of snow showed up and presented a major problem for them getting over here from Baltimore. Luck was on our side as the play, a one-woman show about Freida Kahlo, was canceled.
Since I wasn't having company I split that into two dishes. We'll have one this weekend and another later.
I also had 8-bean soup mix. I noticed my pressure cooker in the basement not long ago and decided to get that out and give those dry beans a go. Normally I don't cook with dry beans because I don't digest less than mushy beans well, but I decided to try pressure cooking them. That worked just fine, nothing blew up on my stove and the beans were soft enough that with another hours cooking they were plenty mushy.
So in addition to the casserole I have soup. In other years I might have gotten my bread machine and made bread. I considered this, the flours are in an airtight container so they shouldn't be buggy, although I haven't looked at them in awhile. But I know I don't have any yeast so I didn't even get started thinking about bread. It's supposed to snow again on Tuesday, maybe if I go to the grocery Monday I"ll buy yeast.
The grocery up the street gets odd runs of bread from the Uptown Bakery so I do have some multi-grain breads stashed in the freezer from a trip to that store a few weeks ago.
Several weekends ago when I went to Kate's for the "Salt" meeting she was telling me about a pan she bought at a place called "Home Goods." That's a store a little like "Tuesday Morning" that sells home stuff at a discount. "At a Discount" always peeks my interest, so last weekend I stopped in. Alas, no roasters, but I did buy some fancy vanilla and while I was waiting in a rather long check-out line I got a "Food Network" magazine.
Now I don't usually watch the "Food Network." It makes me hungry. About the only time I watch is when I'm at the YMCA on a treadmill, and that's only if I can't find an episode of "Law and Order" that I haven't seen. Since there are almost 20 years of "Law and Order" out there you know that I'm an infrequent watcher of "Food Network." But I bought the magazine.
With the ginger, a pinch of sugar and pepper it smells just wonderful and I'm looking forward to sampling! 
