Monthly Musings: February 2019
I find February awfully bleak. It’s literally freezing outside, the weather forecaster keeps mentioning the threat of snow every 15 minutes, the days are dark and miserable, and I find it hard to force myself out the front door. As in, I’m thinking up ways to get out of ever having to leave the warmth and coziness of our house ever again. That said, we spied daffodils coming into bloom in Boyfriend’s parents’ garden the other day, so surely spring can’t be that far off? We can hope. Until that happens, you can find me beside the radiator with a cup of tea in hand, staring at these gorgeous flowers from Bloom & Wild, dreaming of the warmer days ahead.
These Monthly Musings posts are fast becoming a favourite of mine – I find that I love sitting down to write them, recapping the month gone by and thinking through the month ahead. I hope you enjoy this month’s ramblings as much as I enjoyed writing them!
Monthly Musings: February 2019
Boyfriend & I booked flights to Montreal! I’ve never been anywhere near Canada before and am beyond excited! The good news is that we already have a large handful of places we want to eat at… and the bad news is that our trip isn’t until September. As in, there’s another 236 days until our flight. At least it’s something to look forward to?
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This year, I committed to following along with the Food in Jars Mastery Challenge. January’s challenge was all about citrus, and I tried my hand at preserved lemons. It was like being in class, except waaay better because I actually enjoy working with food a lot more than I ever enjoyed working with math. I’m itching to learn more!
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Related: February’s challenge is all about fermentation, and I have high hopes for myself. Fermenting foods is unexplored terrain for me, but I’m readying myself up to make two new-to-me items: homemade yogurt and sourdough. I am so excited! Making my own sourdough has been on my bucket list for so long that it’s almost laughable, and homemade yogurt sounds so intriguing. Watch this space!
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I’m working away on a massive post about travelling in Italy, specifically in Florence and Bologna. Boyfriend & I have an ongoing love affair with everything about those two cities, so expect the post to be extra large and jam-packed with recommendations. Currently, it’s looking so large that it might even have to be split in two. I can’t wait to share it with you!
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Boyfriend recently bought me my first ever blood orange. I’d never tried one before, and I thought it was so romantic & thoughtful when he text me out of the blue one day saying he got me a present “that’s round and rhymes with nothing.” Isn’t he just the sweetest? Some girls want flowers from their other halves, but I’ll settle for a big bag of juicy blood oranges any time – it was delicious! I’m looking to get my hands on a few more before the end of the season to make something similar to this bundt cake by A Cozy Kitchen.
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A new addition to the cookbook family: Patisserie Made Simple by Edd Kimber. As of this moment in time, I’ve only baked from the cookbook once, but it was so insanely delicious & simple that I can’t wait to use the book again. Thanks Boyfriend!
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Following on with the purge of last month, I’ve recently started to declutter my bookshelves. No, not my cookbook shelves. And no, we still haven’t watched Marie Kondo on Netflix. For years I’ve been amassing dozens of books – art books, novels, biographies, history tomes, you name it – and it feels like the right time to share them. Apart from a small collection of my very favourites, everything was lovingly packed up and donated to our local charity shop. It felt sad to give them away, but also good to know other people will get to enjoy them now. Yes, I am a crazy book lady.
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An oldie but a goodie: Maple Pecan Granola. I foresee a big batch of this granola in our near future, with a side of homemade yogurt perhaps… Adulting to the very best of our abilities over here!
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Speaking of adulting to the best of our abilities, I came across something on Instagram last week called Cook90. The idea is that you challenge yourself to make & eat everything from scratch for one month/90 meals. Boyfriend & I are generally pretty good when it comes to making our meals from scratch, but this is something that has me very intrigued. Do you think you could do it?
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Finally, a cake I’m really hoping we won’t have to bake again this February, but just in case: Snow Day Chocolate Cake. An easy peasy, perfectly tasty chocolate cake that you can make with the smallest handful of ingredients. For days when the snow is so bad that you literally can’t leave your house (and need a distraction from the onset of cabin fever). I speak from experience.
All my love,
Vicki xo
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