Brr it's cold outside

We have had some severely cold weather this week. It's unpleasant. Severely cold weather for Georgia is single digits, whether wind chill or actual. Our low temp Thursday was 13 degrees and a wind chill of 9F. The rest of the time it's been below normal temps, with dark skies and/or rain.

Ice. EPrata photo

Brrr. A cold rain.

Still, there are bright spots. There are trees with leaves on them. I heard a Carolina wren yesterday, just beautiful with its rolling trill. The sun, when it is out, brightens blue skies to a startlingly clear degree. And the cold doesn't last. Tomorrow it will be 50 degrees again, and the same all week, albeit with rain. However on Friday it is supposed to be 58 with bright sun. So there you go.

OK< that was my pity party.

For lunches this week I made pea soup, salmon-quinoa patties, cut up a bunch of fruit, chilled hibiscus tea (it's really refreshing!) and for the first time, homemade granola/cereal.

It's so yummy!

My friend at school had given me a large tub of homemade granola. I love granola. I enjoy the crunchy texture and its versatility. It's good on fruit salad, in salads, and as a cereal. I asked her for the recipe and it is from "100 Days of Real Food." It's a food website dedicated to showing the good effects of not eating processed food, something I am totally on board with.

The recipe couldn't be easier to make. It is a bit expensive though, at least compared to a Dollar General huge box of corn flakes. But as my friend says 'healthy food costs money.' The recipe is here.

Cooking it not one of my strong points. I usually leave out an ingredient, leave the kitchen and get involved with something else and burn it, or just go fast to get done. I've tried several times to master pancakes but I can't seem to do it. I know, I know, pancakes are easy! Not for me.

I found a good recipe, gathered all the ingredients, and focused. I mixed and sifted and sizzled the griddle. I poured, and they were paper thin and rubber. What did I do? or not do? Forget the baking powder. Oy. I think I have to give up and switch to French Toast for my weekend brunches.

My omelet came out pretty good though. The photo doesn't do it justice. It has slightly crunchy edges and a soft middle. It's filled with spinach and Feta cheese. It is one egg plus milk. I think I'm successful with omelets and frittatas because they are better left alone.

Monday we went back to school after the long Christmas break. No kids Monday, but in they flooded Tuesday through Friday. They'd grown like weeds and burbled about their vacation and gifts and Santa. They were so cute! I really missed them.

I watched a great documentary over vacation, Muscle Shoals." It's the story of Rick Hall and his famous recording studio he founded in an out of the way place, northeastern Alabama. I also have clued in to a great TV series. It's from the Brits, who really know how to do TV. It's called "New Tricks". After a mishap on a SWAT raid, a 50-ish female police superintendent is removed from the fast promotion track and put in a new initiative, the Unsolved, Open case files and given a desk in the basement. She is given retired policemen to work with who retired before computers and who used to solve cases the old fashioned way, three old dogs. Hence the title, "New Tricks".

It's an interesting show, with a good handling of the unfolding of the cases i.e. in a way I can understand and keep up, lol,  humor, and no grisly stuff. It is case driven (procedural) and character driven, with funny dialog and quick wit. I like it because all the people in it are old(er), like me. Best of all, it's been on for ten years, so I have a few episodes to get through before my inevitable plummet into despair that I'll never find another good show. (Their seasons lasted only 7 episodes though).

I'm going to have a mug of pea soup and a garlic breadstick for lunch and then retire to the couch to finish my book. Have a good Sunday everyone.