Darkness...

How do we do it you ask? All that darkness? I love this video as it emphasizes just how short our days are in the winter. Honestly, that video hardly feels like it is time lapsed. Aren’t our days really only two minutes long?
Really, what does a person do when they have two weeks off during the darkest time of year? First of all we sleep a lot. We up our Netflix subscription from one at a time to three at a time. Has anyone seen anything good lately? We have been picking a lot of stinkers. I have been enjoying Top Chef. Of course this has made me far more critical of all our meals. My new favorite saying at dinner is, “the meat is overcooked”. Never in my life have I cared if the meat was overcooked!
All this Top Chef and darkness has inspired a lot of time in the kitchen. I just can’t bear to take those horrible flash photos. I keep thinking I should invest in some lights for photography. It would make for much more inspiring posts.
I did make two major discoveries over the holidays. It all started with Nigella Lawson on NPR, followed by cooking her Chocolate Chip Chili. While I was searching for the Chili recipe, I found her granola bar recipe. At this point forces beyond my control steered my car into the Barnes and Noble parking lot and forced me to buy Nigella Christmas. After Christmas Morning Muffins, Bourbon Glazed Ribs, Corn Pudding, …you get the idea. I am hooked on Nigella. I too want to be a domestic goddess, is there anything this woman can’t do? The fact that she can get me to do it without burning down the house is a miracle. We often refer to the smoke detector as the dinner bell!
The second thing that got me out of bed in the dark morning hours was a love story I started reading. You think I am kidding, but no I am serious, I spent hours of my time reading Ree Drummond’s love story. Now, if that is not a guilty pleasure, I’m not sure what is. Luckily, in trying to figure out if I was on Chapter XXXVIII or XXVII, I also stumbled upon some pretty yummy looking recipes. I ended up making Pioneer Woman’s Rosemary Dinner Rolls twice and finally was inspired to make French Onion Soup. I have had a block of Gruyere in my fridge for about a month waiting to find the right French Onion Soup recipe.
With the leftover Gruyere I was also inspired to make this lovely gratin for dinner the other night.
After this wordy post, I’m sure you are all hoping I run out and get myself some photo lights. More pictures, please…
I’ll think about it!!