The snow started on Friday morning and didn’t stop until yesterday around 4pm. Final total for Loudoun County, VA – 33 inches on average. That’s what we have at our house. This is seriously the most snow I’ve ever seen, and I grew up in Ohio. We lost a giant tree in our backyard and I don’t think the plows will come down our road for another day or so. SQ was already losing his mind yesterday. But I have food! The grocery stores were insane on Thursday, people grabbing things off the shelves as if they would be trapped for weeks. Watching my daughter slog through the snow yesterday, which was up to her waist, to get to the neighbors’ house was hilarious. The one-minute trip took her about 15 or 20.
So, what did I make? I slow-roasted a brisket on Friday, kind of Southern-style, along with some garlic mashed potatoes. This was kind of a no-brainer dinner – I did have to work on Friday. And no, not in an office…I do have a laptop and a wireless connection, even out here in the country. My daughter loves pasta, and if I haven’t mentioned it before, she could and would eat it every day. She poked around and found a recipe for Baked Rigatoni with Sausage and Mushrooms on epicurious.com, and pleaded with me to make that. Not a complicated recipe, but it just takes a while as you have to keep reducing things down. It takes about 1 1/2 hours or so from start to finish, but it was SO worth it. We popped open a bottle of ’05 Chianti Ruffina, which was really delicious after it opened up a bit in the glass.
Today is now Super Bowl Sunday. Not that I give a crap about football, but I was feeling the need to make chili today. Isn’t that what people normally do on this day? I’m making a white chicken chili and some homemade cornbread. I’ve played around with how to cook the chicken, and settled on poaching it in stock before adding to the hot stew. I also add a lot of cheese to it – I like the Kerrygold aged cheddar for this. It’s pretty easy to find and doesn’t overpower the other flavors. I still can’t quite get my cornbread balance right. I love the cake-y, kind-of-sweet cornbread, which I know is not very ‘southern’ of me, but I don’t care. I will attempt again today, and let you know how it turns out tomorrow. I don’t really care much for baking, and this is no exception for me…probably explains why I can’t easily find the fix. I’ve also got some Granny Smith apples and a couple of boxes of all-butter puff pastry. I think an easy apple pie is also in our near future.
I’ve got a pot of French press Mayorga coffee right now and the sun is shining, but it is really freaking cold outside. Tomorrow may be interesting…I will getting very creative with meals. I hope we get plowed out by Tuesday, but there’s also another snow storm in the forecast for that day. It could be a very long week…