This is my first winter in Iowa and while it was the first thing anyone who lived here warned me off when I got to town, I completely didn't understand. What I mean is that I thought winters in New York City were tough—I mean you have to walk everywhere and you can't rely on your car to keep you warm during your commute. I was so silly. This past week we got 15 inches of snow in what was being called a blizzard due to the winds and it was -6 one morning as I waited for the bus to go to work—because my car was stuck in my garage behind a 3-4 foot wall of snow and I stupidly had not invested in a shovel. I hereby take back all of my doubt. Winters here are very dramatic and I now respect that. But, I am also learning to enjoy things in new ways because of this perspective. Here are two:
1. Josh's mom sent me frozen huckleberries that she collected this summer while in Montana. While I was at home enjoying a snow day, I baked a batch of whole wheat huckleberry muffins, which have been the perfect afternoon snack since then, and this morning I made huckleberry cornmeal pancakes. The brightness of the flavors, the feeling of tasting summer in the middle of the cold, is incredibly appreciated given the mounds of snow outside.
2. I really like walking outside on the weekends and guess what? They snow blow the walking paths here! Which means it's possible to go for a long weekend walk without getting wet feet or seeing too many people because of the temperature. Today, we went to Gray's Lake, which was somewhat frozen. With the afternoon sun setting, it was quite the scene.
I have been working away on my surprise holiday gift that I showed last week and I am very nearly finished. It's actually not a surprise anymore since I was so excited about the progress that I told Josh what it was...which I'll tell you tomorrow!
Don't forget, you have until Thursday to enter the re/upcycled ornament contest co-sponsored by Mod Podge Amy and I!
Image via Brownie Points, a terrific food blog I just discovered.
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Welcome to the Midwest Winter ;-) .... I just recently had huckleberries for the first time, these muffins look amazing so I may have to give this a try.
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