MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Snow Capped Santa

I am thinking that maybe we should move Thanksgiving and Christmas to the middle of the year. Whoever said "Christmas in July" may have had a good idea. Sure, a white Christmas is pretty and we all feel nostalgic when Bing Crosby helps us dream of it, but it sure is a hassle! And that snow that is so beautiful when it is falling creates quite a mess for days (or weeks!) to follow.
I am lucky and I have arrived at my Christmas destination: wild and wonderful West Virginia. I was delayed about half a day due to the weather. After work on Monday night I went to my car and it was completely snowed in from the storm we had over the weekend. Because I live in the city and rely almost completely on public transportation, I had not seen the car since before the storm. I was not sure what to expect, but I didn't have time to visit the car and dig it out any earlier, so I prayed for the best and went to the car. I didn't have a shovel to dig out the car but I thought there was a scraper inside that would at least get me started while I came up with a game plan. Plus I was freezing, so why not sit inside and let the car warm up a bit and start defrosting? I'll tell you why not: because it had a dead battery! So now I need to clear off the car in the dark, freezing cold (wearing my nice work clothes) so that I can try to jump start the car and THEN dig a path to drive out of. Oh fun! To make a long story short, the jumper cables did their job and the shovel did its and I made it out. I did not get to leave that night as I had planned, but I got up extra early the next morning and did the entire drive in one day.

It's good to be here!!!

I hope everyone makes it in... Ben, Jen, and Joel were supposed to fly in on Monday. That flight was cancelled due to weather. They were supposed to catch another one this morning. The last I heard it is delayed. I hope it takes off some time!

So really, what would be so bad with having a major holiday during a month that doesn't get snow, ice, and freezing rain? I make a motion... any takers?

The snow is pretty falling over the city.

BRR!

Wow! It suddenly got very cold here! Just the time I am planning on being out and about the city doing my shopping for the holidays. I guess it's about that time of the year. Mid-December the chill sets in and sticks around until the end of March or so. BRRR!!!

Vegging Out

Has anyone ever seen a cauliflower that looks like this???:

When I think of cauliflower, I picture the vegetable that looks like broccoli, but is white. A nice round top on it. If my cauliflower looked like this picture, I would probably freak out and throw it away! I'd never seen such a thing... until this past weekend. I found myself over at the Union Square Farmer's market on Friday afternoon and was quite intrigued by this yellow-green spiky thing. Would you eat this? How do you go about it? Does it taste like the standard white variety? This looks like something growing in the sea. Is it Sea Cauliflower?

FOLLOW UP: Writing this post really peaked my curiosity, so I did a little research and found that this is called Romanesco Cauliflower. One site said it is often referred to as Pyramid Cauliflower. There is also a bit of confusion about whether the veg is really a cauliflower or not. Some groups seem to argue that it is called Romanesco Broccoli. Either way, it looks weird to me. Well, you learn something new every day.