Saturday morning Mark and I walked downtown to go to the indoor farmers market. Because we were out before 9:00 AM on a Saturday, we got to see a wonderful example of our drinking culture here in WI – a pile of puke on a snow bank with the eyeglasses fallen off the face and frozen in. It was too gross to even take a picture. When we went past again on the way home, almost 11:00 AM, the glasses had been removed and snow kicked over to almost hide the puke.
I went out and did car errands, and it was the kind of snowy Saturday when every time you stop at a traffic light, you watch suspiciously in the rear view mirror to make sure the guy behind you stops, too.
John and Megan came to town for Corey’s birthday and polar plunge.
John’s tumblr shot of Corey all wet
We all ended up back here about the same time. I decided that the short ribs I bought for beef tacos (from the new Cook’s Illustrated) were too frozen, so I made a soup from Epicurious that I’d been wanting to try. Kind of a Pasta e fagioli, with spelt instead of pasta (I used farro). I cooked white beans from the co-op instead of using canned – and they tasted funny to me. Some beans were too crunchy, some very soft, and a few tasted moldy. I think the soup had too much liquid – 12 cups – but will probably be delicious for work lunches all week. I made pear cake, and it tasted funny to me too, like too much baking soda. (I did just reduce the leavening in the recipe.) On Sunday morning, when we ate seconds of the cake for breakfast along with a sun-dried tomato & artichoke quiche, and rosemary roasted potatoes, Mark hypothesized that I was just enjoying the first of many small strokes I will have as I age (!!??), messing up my sense of taste and smell. Hmm, last night he suggested a cold coming on; I like that hypothesis a bit better.
Artichoke & sun-dried tomato quiche with provelone
