Chats On The Farmhouse Porch

The good news is, we've survived the Polar Vortex. Yay! Not much damage here, though the strong winds Sunday night rolled back a few shingles on my roof. Tomorrow--because it is supposed to get up above freezing for the first time since Sunday-- I'm going to borrow a ladder and get up there and flatten them out.  It ought to be OK until I can get some roofing nails and nail them back down.

One of my coworkers was not so lucky.  He had water pipes burst under his house, and had to leave work today to go fix them.  He's got two small kids, so he needed to get that done.

James and Beverly are back from Texas, so I have one less dog in the house.  I keep Jake while they are out of town.  He's got a lot of energy, so I'm usually pretty worn out by the time they get back.

The bad news is, I can't park Jimmy in their garage any more.  It was so nice these last couple of mornings not to have to get up and scrape ice off of my windshield.  Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Just when I thought I'd eaten all of the Christmas stuff, my brother and sister in law sent me a whole bunch of stuff from Texas.  Yoke Wan made some of Mammaw's fruitcake cookies, and they made some fudge and other kinds of candy.  The cookies have eggs in them, but I'm going to eat them anyway, accompanied by copious amounts of Benadryl.

Now, on to the chat.  


Questions 


1.   How much baking did you do before and after Christmas? Do you get more inspired to bake when the temps are cooler? 

Not that much, at least not compared to most years.  Since everyone was going to be so scattered this year, I only baked two batches of cookies and made chocolate fudge from a boxed kit.   I didn't really like that, so next year, I'm going back to the recipe I usually use.

2.  Do you have any food intolerances or allergies?

Yes, I've tested positive for egg and orange allergies.  I've never been tested for it, but I also react similarly when I eat/drink cranberry products as I do when I get into something with oranges in it.  So, I'm counting that as an allergy, too.  I'm also lactose intolerant, but I take Digestive Advantage Lactose Defense enzyme supplement, so I don't even notice that one.  

3.  When was the last time you were in a restaurant? 

 September.  It was the last time I went up to see Amy and shop at Hank's place before she closed it for good.  We ate at Huey's.  I don't eat out much.  I've got food at home that I've already paid for.

4.  What's your favorite accent(speech)?

Scottish.  Especially when spoken by a man in a kilt.   

5.  My favorite__________is__________. 

 My favorite hot tea is Tea Earl Gray Hot.  This is the first thing that came to my mind, because we were just discussing it on FB.  And it's not just because it's what Captain Picard drinks.  I like the flavor of it.




I did forget to mention that our electricity went out for a couple of hours last night.  No electricity means no heat.  No heat means the house got pretty cold there for a while.  I tried to get Jesse to get into the bed with me, but he wouldn't.  That's one drawback of having a well trained dog.

You can't get him to do the thing you spent so long training him not to do.