Cold and damp in the Midwest

It's quite chilly and damp here today...a small price to pay for much needed rain. As usual, chilly weather sends me back to the kitchen. I'm making a sausage quiche for dinner today so I browned the sausage early, took out what I needed for the quiche, and used the remainder for sausage biscuits and gravy. (Why is it that I continually had my doctor's face...frowning...in my mind as I cooked?) Oh, well...I don't make them often.

I also made the brown bottom cupcake recipe from Queen of the Castle and they are delicious. I set them in the freezer for about half an hour (long enough to freeze but not to get freezer burn) and then placed them in a couple freezer bags so there will be "something sweet" for the guys when they get hungry. There are currently soup bones, spare ribs, onions, and carrots roasting in the oven to start a soup stock this afternoon. I may as well take advantage of a warm oven on a cool day and make some bread later, too. Once it gets hot again, the part of my brain that thinks of something to cook becomes dormant.

An e-mail was in my Inbox this morning, telling me Season 1 of Monarch of the Glen was (finally) available at the library. I've had it on hold for awhile. I've never seen the first season so I'm quite excited to watch it soon. I have one other DVD checked out from the library, the original French Chef series with Julia Child (loved that show!). It is due back soon so I may just have to take a day off from all but essential gotta do's tomorrow and watch my favorite "chef"...sigh...it's a tough job but somebody has to do it. (My other favorite is Jacques Pepin, of whom I've had a schoolgirl crush long after I've left any kind of school.)

I was alone last night for a change as my son taught a fencing class and my husband was at a church meeting. I took advantage of the quiet to catch up on laundry. When one has a teenager at home, one has laundry. When said teenager is involved in two sports, one has a lot of laundry. So...I carefully draped everything that had to be hung up on one side of my bed and then "dumped" everything else on the other...let out a big sigh and turned the radio on for "company".

There...coming out from the airwaves and into my home...one of my favorite Bible teachers ...Chuck Swindoll. As usual he was a joy to hear and I learned something new. Before I knew it, a half hour had gone by and most of my laundry was folded, hung up, or otherwise put away. Only that which had recently come out of the dryer needed my attention...a quick job...thank you, Chuck.

I have always found it amusing that Chuck Swindoll was one of the few preachers we would hear on the car radio that my son also liked. I'm wondering if it's because the summer I was expecting him, my daughter took part in a youth symphony and "Chuck" would always be on the radio at the time I drove to pick her up. If she was late getting out, I'd leave the car radio on to listen to the rest of his broadcast. Hmmm...just how much does prenatal preaching count? :)

Since cold weather is also a good time to snuggle on the sofa with a book, a cat, and a cup of tea...I'm going to continue reading the autobiography Madame Curie by her daughter, Eve Curie. I bought a first edition in very good condition at the library sale many years ago, after reading a recommendation on the Trivium Pursuit website. It was enjoyable from the first page and I'm looking forward to picking it back up very soon. So...I'd better put the kettle on.