Hazy Shade of Winter

So, Kenna and I spent this past weekend in Maryland, helping Tricia move into her new house on Saturday and hanging out in DC to see the Barack Stars perform on Sunday. You may have heard that there has been some snow in that area lately--here's a little taste of what it looks like. For more detailed information, go to Leah's blog, where she has chronicled her "Snowcation."

My car, next to Mt. Duke Court:

A close up of the snow:

One of the parking lots in the area--they all look like this:

Some video of Leah, Tricia, and Ken driving to and from Tricia's new house. Her development wasn't plowed very well, so getting in and out of there was fun, but at least we weren't the ones driving the U-Haul. For those members of our families who get nervous about us driving in the snow, please be aware of the following:

1. I did not exceed 10 mph on this road.

2. Father of Ken taught me how to drive in the snow.

3. I had both hands on the steering wheel at all times while Leah filmed.

4. McKenna was not in the car. She was safely tucked away at Leah's house and her life was never in danger.

5. Michael Jackson was with us all the way.

Enjoy!

Obsession

This week's Favorite Thing is The Shark. I don't usually get excited about "As Seen on TV" products, but Mother of Ken's cleaning people use one of these and I saw how well it worked at their house and decided to get one of my own. It has been especially nice to have since I put the house on the market--instead of lugging around a mop and mop bucket, all I have to do is fill it with water and plug it in and I can clean all of the hard surfaces in the house in about ten minutes.

Here is Kenna with The Shark just after it arrived:

This version comes with two different mop heads (one rectangular and one triangular) and two microfiber covers for each mop head. You also get a fuzzy cover for cleaning hardwood floors and a glider thing that you can use to steam carpets. It makes things smell so clean and it really does pick up dirt and grime well. You can pump the handle to direct extra steam at specific areas of the floor, such as next to your new refrigerator where there is a patch of dirt left from The Disgustingtons that you have never been able to remove. You can flip the mop heads and use both sides of the cover for cleaning and then just throw them into the washing machine to clean them. It also has a really long cord, so I can plug it into the outlet in the living room and use it all over the downstairs. The handle extends for those of us who are tall and the floor dries quickly, so you don't have to ban the dog from the kitchen for 20 minutes while your floor dries.

A not-so-great photo of The Shark, all ready to go:

Here's a bonus video of The Shark in action on my kitchen floor:

Remember, I am not a paid spokesperson for any of the products featured in my "Obsession" posts.

I Melt With You

With the snow coming down all day, I was in the mood for a warm chocolaty treat that I only make a few times a year: churros y chocolate. When I lived in Seville, I used to go to a bar with some friends on cool, rainy afternoons and eat churros y chocolate. They made fresh churros in front of us and then served them in paper cones with small cups of chocolate for dipping. When you were finished, they wrote the total of your bill with a piece of chalk on the bar. I love churros y chocolate so much that I insisted upon taking Family of Ken to a cafe to try them when they visited me in April (I think) and it was 85 degrees outside. I don't think they enjoyed them very much, so I should probably make them sometime when it is cool so they can try them again.

So, back to today. I made the churros first and instead of frying them, I baked them in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar after I took them out of the oven. While they baked, I made the chocolate, which is supposed to be a little thicker than the hot chocolate that you drink, but thinner than pudding:

Here is my plate--the churros are pretty weird looking because of how I piped them. Usually, I just use a plastic bag with the corner cut off, but this time I tried to use more professional equipment and it didn't work so well. Oh, well--as my Papaw used to say, "your stomach won't know the difference." And mine didn't. Delicious churros that were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy inside (kind of like warm cream puffs) and yummy warm chocolate for dipping. There is nothing better on a cold day.

Later today, I decided to try my hand at Irish soda bread. I made some yesterday that did not turn out well, so I used a different recipe that was much better. It certainly isn't "traditional," but it is very good. This recipe made a light, airy texture that I really liked. I've never made or even eaten soda bread before and I am glad that I tried this recipe.

It was a good day to eat at my house...