Tonight, with my counterpart skim-coating the new ceiling in our bathroom, I was provided with another opportunity to try my luck in the kitchen. Regular readers know that the results of my cooking do indeed appear to depend on luck - sometimes good, sometimes bad, but generally indifferent. But tonight I had one of my rare successes, and this time luck had nothing to do with it.
Read MoreMini Po'Boy Sandwiches
February is a cold and dreary month, shortness being its best quality, for who could take more than 28 days of it? As the hours of sunlight increase, we know that spring will eventually arrive if only that cold wind would just go away. I am huddled in my office looking at a crisp blue sky and a yard full of bright sunshine and am not taken in - it is hovering around the freezing mark today. Even the cat has taken refuge in my bed, having figured out how to turn on the electric blanket. Who among us can blame her?
Read MoreBread for St. Brighid
February 2, or Groundhog Day, falls between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox and from a solar perspective is the midpoint of winter. Before the legend of the groundhog and his shadow, it was a very different time. It was a time of cold and dark and hunger giving way to light and warmth as the days steadily grow longer. It is a time to look forward to the coming spring, to begin preparations for the planting when the cold fades away and the earth is once again soft and warm and open.
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