This and That - February

I hope this finds you well. Did you have a nice weekend? Ours was fun, our hiking club offers an annual winter weekend in a lodge and we enjoy the activities and meals. After a two year absence due to the pandemic, we are back at Camp Fowler. Always guaranteed fun and laughs while enjoying some winter activities.

On Saturday, several properly dressed intrepid hikers enjoyed winter activities. Some visited frozen waterfalls along the flowing Sacandaga River, some hiked Fish Mountain, a few drove to Plattsburgh for an art exhibit, and some tramped around Moffit Beach state park. We played games, enjoyed Teddy (the caretaker’s dog) roasted marshmallows in the fireplace, and Walt treated us to Glühwein which was piping hot and warmed us up. The sun came out and the weather was tolerable. It's an inexpensive weekend (the lodge is used as a church camp in summmer). We even had a chef!

We've had a strange winter with very little snow and hardly any sunshine. After the massive dichotomy between the snow-rich and snow-poor of ski country and winter activities, we finally got enough snow so that we can ski and snowshoe. 

Our hike on Sunday was to search for famous Kunjamuk Cave in the Adirondacks. Joe was very happy to find it. The ice formation in winter was very cool.

Temperatures in many areas of the Northeast U.S. climbed on Sunday, a day after the region suffered through temperatures that plummeted into the negative teens and felt like minus 45 to minus 50 degrees with the wind chill. 

I was craving sunshine and bright colors, and this Napa Cabbage Salad is a nice salad for the winter months when I can't get my organic lettuce from the farm. I have been storing this napa cabbage since November, and it was lovely. 

I started my Winter sowing on February 1, and it is a very simple concept. You plant seeds in the winter and rely on mother nature to do the rest. When the weather warms in the spring, soil temps will increase and your seeds take the cue from nature that it’s time to germinate. The most effective way is to sow seeds in some kind of plastic container and set the container outside. 

I thought this was an adorable idea to make for the grandchildren (or myself LOL). Stuffed celery has always appealed to me. 

Since February is the month of love, I pull out my heart serving board and use it for the month. I made cinnamon buns one morning.

Winter allows me to spend more time in the kitchen so it's been homemade pizza while watching the football games. My six year old grandson Xavier plays football and seems interested in it. After doing a little research on New York city pizza (the best), I discovered this Double 00 flour makes a wonderful pizza crust. I also experimented with pizza sauce, and this one is my favorite so far. 

Authentic Italian Homemade Pizza Sauce

Cherry Cobbler, just because. 

Hot Honey Latte....interesting. I just finished reading "Mocha, She Wrote" by Ellie Alexander and the recipe was included in the book. I have been using spicy honey on our cheeseboards so when I saw that the latte included the spicy honey, I decided to give it a try. Warmed me right up!

Meet my new favorite squash, Autumn Frost. It's a fairly new variety of squash that my local farm offered us as part of our CSA. We are all extremely pleased with it. Uniquely ribbed, round fruit ripens to dark tan with a frosted overlay. Fruit is similar in taste to a butternut squash, and a shelf life of up to 4 months after maturity, allowing for a supply of high-quality squash throughout the Winter season. I baked it, and then served chili in it. 

Thanks for stoppng by!

xo

Deb