Oddities

I would like to inform you about a few oddities that have taken place in the past week:

First of all, it's snowing. A lot. In the middle of March. It's not just a freak snowstorm we're having, but a week-long event. I would like to think of March as the month that heralds spring. The first buds appear on the trees, early crocuses poke their heads through the slowing warming earth, and little birds begin to build their springtime nests . . . Maybe all these things are happening, but it's hard to tell through the swirling whiteness out my window. The little birds are probably frozen solid to a branch somewhere. Can you tell that I am tired of being holed up in the house?

So in my winter misery I have been baking, a lot. It warms up the apartment and gives us something to do. I have found a new favorite quick bread recipe that everyone needs to make next week in honor of St. Patrick's day: Irish Buttermilk Brown Bread. Please splurge and use real buttermilk. This bread is amazing. I could eat the entire loaf. We served it with garlic lentil soup and successfully fought off winter's icy blast.

I have also discovered the joy of refrigerator cookie dough. Beatrice Ojakangas in "The Great Scandinavian Baking Book" has an easy recipe for Danish Vanilla Slices. You form the dough in logs and then chill it in your refrigerator, for up to two weeks. Then you can slice and bake (or roll out, cut with cookie cutters, and bake) just however many cookies you plan to eat at one time. I like this concept. More eating, fewer stale cookies.

This weekend my dear husband and I both spent some time flipping through our small cookbook collection, looking for inspiration. We are finally cooking from Mollie Katzen's "Pretend Soup," "Salad People" and "New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant." The former two cookbooks are for children, but are filled with simple, delicious recipes that appeal to everyone in the family. On Saturday morning we had "Corny Corn Cakes," which was a nice twist on our standard weekend pancake fare. On Monday we made winter pesto, which took advantage of the fact that fresh spinach has arrived at our local market. Hooray for something other than cauliflower and potatoes.

Second of all: That was a long first of all, but really quickly, two more things: Did you know that you can cook tortellini in the microwave? There is a fun way to find this out. First, invite friends (and their new adorable baby) over for lunch. Prepare everything for your pasta salad except for the pasta. Have no other lunch food in the house. Welcome your friends, spend some time chatting and cooing over their baby and then go get ready to boil water.

"Click, click, click, pfft" says the gas stove. Uh oh. Why is my gas out? Turns out, the city had decided to turn it off for a few hours for maintenance. Or perhaps the municipal workers just wanted a half day off? I have no idea why. So I tried not to panic, and put the tortellini in a bowl of water, and microwaved on high for six minutes. To my utter joy and amazement, it worked. I am fortunate to have very understanding friends. Italy suffered a few minor seismic tremors as an entire generation of grandmothers rolled over in their graves. Pasta in the microwave.

Finally, and this is the oddest oddity of all--my dear husband has taken up ironing. I think he has started mostly out of desperation since I avoid ironing at all costs. But he's quite good, so I plan to encourage this new undertaking as much as I possibly can.

So here's hoping that next week is warm, inside and out, as well as wrinkle free.

(Recipes #16-19)