The only things on the agenda for today are a walk at CI, a visit to Smith Library to pick up a book, and a roast chicken, though I have not made up my mind what recipe to follow, whether a Thomas Keller, an Emeril, or Tyler Florence. I have decided to be the expert on roasting a chicken, so I will work my way through various recipes to find the best. I was not happy with the vertical roaster last time as the lower quarter of the chicken was cooked but not browned and crispy, the way I like it. The reason I mention these recipes is that I downloaded a recipe program from the new MAC APPS, called Yummy Soup. It organizes recipes for you, allows you to download them easily from any website and email them on to friends. I am struggling with it a bit for now, but am getting a handle on it as I make a mistake and then correct it.
Yesterday at 4:30, before we began getting dinner ready, we went out cross country skiing on the lake during a brief blizzard. There were fishermen straight out from our house, about half way across the lake, and went we went out, we could not see them, just hear their voices, and we could hardly see the houses on Woodlawn, as we skied along the lake. We fought a fierce wind towards the north, with snow whipping our faces. We only stayed out for about 15 minutes but it was great to be out in it, knowing that we could come in whenever we wanted. My beard was covered with snow, frozen ice sickles hung from it, like a frozen Santa Claus. It felt good to come into a warm house, with dinner in the oven, a cocktail to look forward to.
About 8 inches of snow over night; Shane was here about 6:30 clearing the road and drive way, and I went out and cleared the walk and our car. Although its cloudy and cold, it's a pretty morning, a slight wind, nothing excessive, just right for our walk in an hour.
It' about 6:00 and I am sitting here with Evie, we are both reading, as the chicken roasts in the oven, filling the house with good smells. The fire is burning, it's snowing outside, and we are warm and happy after a good day. I cross country skied at CI this morning, a good workout, as I was really sweaty when I returned. I also stopped at the library and picked up Patty Smith's award winning biography, Just Kids. If I can get through my 1000 page book, I'll get to it. Around 4:00, Evie and I snow shooed for about a half hour on the lake. It was almost as blizzardy as yesterday, but the lake is still wet beneath the snow, so huge balls of ice formed on the underside of our snow shoes, making it cumbersome to walk too far. A few fishermen were still out but most have packed it up and headed home. I watched parts of the Kansas City loss to the Ravens and thought of how depressed Tommy must be at the way the Chiefs played. They were outplayed almost the entire game.
As I mentioned, I am reading one of Ken Follette's sagas, this one is called FALL OF GIANTS and its very readable, set just before WWI in Great Britain mostly, some in Russia, but lots of interaction with v various aristocratic families from Great Britain and Russia, set against the lower classes, who work in the coal mines, factory workers who emigrate from Russia, and the interaction between both, set just as WW I is beginning. I have to admit I enjoy reading it and have learned quite a bit about that time as he's pretty good at setting the environment for that time. Lots of characters to follow, as he jumps back and forth quickly, with short chapters, which makes it easy to pick up at any time, for as long or short as you want.
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