Bonding over Eggs

Who'd have thought that the egg display case in a grocery store would be such a congenial meeting place? In the face of rising egg prices (they've gone up by 49% this year, due to Avian flu losses, apparently), collaborating with other customers seemed to be the best bet.

The prices, products, and seemingly incorrect labels were the catalyst for breaking down the usual communication barriers (or etiquette?) when shopping - talking to strangers. None of the prices seemed to make any sense. Suddenly, we were all in this together, sharing findings and pointing out helpful suggestions and comparisons. We bonded briefly over shared hardship. We had to look beyond our usual 'go-to' products and evaluate the situation together.

Who would have thought that Eggland's Best (claiming to being raised on proprietary all-vegetarian feed) would be $2 cheaper per dozen than good old Market Basket eggs? Once we realized this good deal, we felt compelled to share our great find with other browsing customers.

Now, it's time to bake!

Frozen in Time

A short walk around the neighborhood is full of so many beautiful surprises that it makes the route take ages!

These snow encrusted grasses look like coral

This icy shape teetering on a rock reminded me of a glass onion

Beautiful ice bells

In order to steady myself on icy drainage ditches to get close ups, I opted to place my behind down on the ground, and suffered from the after effects of ice melting through my clothing all the way home. Brrrrr.

Baking Binge

After spending 3 days browsing through my old recipe collection during our recent power failure, I was excited to remake a few delicious favorites I'd forgotten about over the years, or had bookmarked but not yet tried.

I was very pleased with the outcome of this very spectacular lemon ricotta cake, though it took almost twice as long to cook than expected. It seems as if my oven struggled to reach temperature on its first use since the power failure. I'll have to try it again.

I then tried an orange zesty banana bread that, much to my delight, was not very banana-ery!

Next up on my "to-do" list: Cranberry orange cookies. This pic shows my mise en place. The dough has to be refrigerated as a long sausage in a piece of parchment, before the slicing and baking.

They turned out rather nicely, the dough roll having been brushed with turbinado sugar. Yum!

Then, a cranberry almond shortbread recipe called my name ...

Oh no! I've baked again! I made a pastry for our meat pie last night, and it was scrumptious.

Now I've come across another recipe I'd like to try: an Irish Brown Bread that uses Guinness!

And I'm going to need to go on a dieting binge ...

A Wasteland

I can't help but think of T.S. Eliot's 1922 poem "The Wasteland" when I stop and look at the bleakness of our winter landscapes. Winter desolation shouts from this scene.

But close up, the details are fantastically intricate and superb

Of course, a corny analogy comes to mind here: when the big picture of life seems miserable, look at the small details, and you will see that not all is bad, that in fact some little things are wonderful!