Climate Change On A Dime

So many things seem to conspire to keep me off balance these days, including the weather. In the past week we've gone from digging out on a daily basis, sometimes more than once a day, to freakishly warm weather and a complete melt-off of all but the piled snow. This morning we woke to heavy lake effect snow and so for now at least it's back to snowshoeing out to the compost bins and the bird feeders, the way it should be in central New York in winter.

It's All About the Sausage

Portuguese Kale Soup

1 lb Portuguese linguiça or the spicier chourico
2 cups chopped onion
4 cups stock
4 cups water
2 cups dry red wine
8-10 oz chopped kale
4 cups diced potatoes
3 cups cooked kidney beans

I usually start off by washing the kale.

I slice the sausage and render some of the fat before I add the onion and cook it until transparent. I add the stock, water and wine and let it simmer while I chop the kale which then cooks while I prep the potatoes. When the potatoes are almost tender I add the beans and cook the soup for about another 15 minutes.

If I'm using linguiça I add some cayenne but otherwise I don't add any seasoning because the salt and the seasoning from the sausage is sufficient.

North Country Smokehouse

Fire and Ice

I would be enjoying this frigid, sun-dazzled winter morning but for the more than a million people without power. Some of our family and friends have been affected but they all have some way to heat with wood so they're in better shape than a lot of people.

No Tree This Year

An overcast but beautiful snowy morning here in CNY. I've already done a bit of shoveling and put out seed. There's close to a foot so far but it's tapering off.

Less than two weeks to Christmas and I have almost no holiday spirit. Like someone with bipolar disorder I seem to vacillate wildly between questioning every dollar I spend and thinking I might as well buy all the oysters, caviar and Amarone I can because it could well be our last.