Smells So Good

Today's entry in the weekend's Investment Cooking Marathon is Curried Lentil Stew with Butternut, Kale, and Coconut Milk.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It made my whole house smell like curry which smells like vacation to me as we learned to like curry (sweet, not hot curry) in the Caribbean.  I intended to eat another Egg Roll Noodle Bowl but once that curry aroma permeated the house I was a goner.  I'll eat a noodle bowl tomorrow, I promise.  Maybe.  Depends on what the Farro & Veggie Stew smells like, I guess.






I had the devil of a time getting down to cooking, spending most of the day stalling.  I did laundry, five loads of it.  (where did it all come from?  I'm only one person, for heaven's sake.)  I hunted down every remaining vestige of Christmas in the house and put it all away.  I even evicted the flamingo from the front yard although I left it tethered to its short shepherd's crook and left the timer in the box so it's all together and ready to go back out next December.







  
When rereading the recipe for tomorrow I realized that I forgot to get fresh parsley so I wandered out at around 4:30 to find a thin skin of ice on the driveway.  I'm happy to say that I thought to spread salt on it before I drove away so when I came home the car's tires would grip instead of slip.  I've spent too many winter days spinning my tires at the street-end of the driveway and then tiptoeing up the icy slope to get salt so that I could park and the car would stick to the pavement.  I know that it looks wet in the picture but, trust me, that's ice.  It was foggy all day and almost exactly 32 degrees; those fog droplets just love to cling to streets and driveways on days like today.




I know I said I spent the day stalling but I did accomplish things (besides laundry and Christmas banishment).  I finished the January Preemie Hat #2 learning in the process that if you knit a pattern that calls for DK weight yarn in worsted weight yarn you get a bigger hat.  This isn't what you'd classify as a preemie hat exactly, but it'll fit some baby.


 


I also finished the January Seaman's Cowl with about a yard of yarn to spare.  I think I'll cast on a sock tomorrow.  I feel like I need a sock on the go but I'm also sorely tempted by Mason Dixon Knitting's Bang Out a Sweater February knit-along.  I'll think about it.  I could use another cardigan, one that isn't mohair which is very warm and gets fuvvies in my mouth.

12 January--Tropical Obsession. 

These days not too many people are said to have a "heart of flame." Passion is out of style. Only children are allowed to fling themselves into their pursuits. The rest of us are supposed to be cool and blasé. I say, the hell with what we're supposed to do. Keep fanning the spark in your heart, coddle that little flicker, and embrace it. Forget about being cool and dance with excitement, beam your pride when you paint something, wall or canvas, that pleases you, plant a garden, build a birdhouse or cradle. Celebrate your passions, chase them wholeheartedly, and dare to fail--or at least be a dork about it. Life is too short to worry about public opinion--unless you're running for office.

Today's toss was all of the collapsed boxes that Durwood insisted we keep so that we could reuse them for Christmas presents.  It occurred to me that I haven't used any of them in years.  Out they went.  For some reason this past week wasn't a good one for the "toss a box every day" plan but I'm back on track.  Tomorrow I need to go back to the Y and stretch out these achy muscles again.  Night.
--Barbara