It’s November - which means it’s time to turn the heat on in the house up here in New England! Yes, I’m one who waits until the first of November to turn the heat on - although the 36°F outside this morning almost got me. But we’ve experienced a very warm autumn, so we’ll see how it goes.
But it’s the time to start with the braised meals - hearty stews, pot roasts, roasted foods…and while Christmas commercials have already started, we in the States have our annual Turkey Day to look forward to - with all of the fixings.
This is hilarious. We have only had control of our heat for a year - in NYC, the city decrees that between October 1 and May 31, from 6 am to 10 pm, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees, the inside temperature must be at least 68 degrees (i.e. the heat has to be on). When we moved into our house last year I really had no idea when we’d need to turn on the heat, but it ended up being around Nov 1. This fall, we’ve been running the AC and may need it again this week (highs in the 70s predicted). It’s completely insane.
The weather means that November really snuck up on me and I haven’t given any thought to Thanksgiving, although I probably should start since it’s just three weeks away. Whether to invite guests or just have a quiet day for the two of us is really the question, more than the menu. The only thing I care about is stuffing anyway!
Hehe…bizarrely I almost turned the heat on the other day…it was all of 41 at my house Monday morning! It’s back to 80 but the mornings are chilly…very early for us.
I turn on the heat for the pipes when it’s below freezing at night and until then I wear layers and live under heated blankets. I hate being cold but it’s not actually so bad and feel I’m warmer than if I blasted the heat. It’s just me and cats so I rather not heat up a whole house if not needed.
It’s rainy and gross today and I just want to cuddle in bed but am stuck at work until a 4pm conference. Dinner tonight will be Dijon tarragon salmon with sautéed spinach.
I tried to make a close-up photo of this meal but it was no use. Just a red mess of good ingredients.
SV octopus tentacles. Potatoes were being cooked whilst I put the sauce together. Sliced the tentacles and let everything simmer briefly. More Portuguese than Spanish (fresh bay leaves and coriander). The sausage is indeed Spanish.
If you are not a fan of good fat then avert your eyes now.
We’re frugal New Englanders. It’s typically in the low 60’s inside our house but we bundle up and never turn on the heat before December. We bunker down with spicy Korean soups/other spicy foods + beer and wine to keep us warm until then. As we are this evening. Kalguksoo (knife-cut noodles) with dumplings and young radish kimchee in soup.
I am a frugal New Englander. Mr. SMT, not so much. There have been times when he begs for a degree or two of heat, and sometimes, in the best interests of our marriage, I allow. We do push up the heat when the grand-scallion is with us and when we have AirBNB guests. For the guests, we have re-balanced the system so that they get more heat than we do. I am wearing a sweater and two pairs of socks even as I type.
I am generally pretty lucky, but today was a bad chemo-side-effect day when it came to my digestive system. No one was taking me out to dinner. Instead, we stayed home and enjoyed a bowl of oatmeal. Perfect food for these kinds of days.
As per Mittens, there’s no time like the present!
We have no choice … she sits there until we light a fire
Not sure what is up with this picture … I will post when I figure it out
Anyone having problems with images since latest apple update?
She is not as rotund as she appears in this pic!
Burgers for dinner
Royal Canine moderate calorie dry and fussie cat chicken and duck for slenderella
It’s only in the past two years that i have had any control over my heat- which sucks because it’s these useless electric baseboards that of course make my energy bill skyrocket. I got wise and now use an awesome space heater but my apartment never gets especially warm. An electric blanket and lots of hot soups, tea and warm fleece pajamas help too.
It was chilly today! I went to K-town right after work since i am having a Kimchi Crisis and needed to restock miso pastes. I of course got distracted and came home with some other goodies too…
I made a Miso Soup of Stuff, one of my "signature " winter dishes. Tonight that was chopped baby bok choy, some green beans, and mushrooms steamed til still al dente then added to my miso broth at a very low simmer along with some fresh soon tofu til the tofu and veggies absorb some flavor. All of that goes into a bowl, i taste it and burn my mouth, and then add chopped scallions, some crumpled nori sheets, and a bit of kimchi (h mart’s only vegetarian kimchi is white kimchi). I snacked on some seaweed rice crackers while prepping the soup which took maybe 15-20 min from starting chopping to eating.
I love how fragrant it is and on extra cold nights i use a very large bowl so i can get more broth.
I couldn’t even look at the leftover halloween candy people brought in today.
Oh… those are wallet cleansers. And you are never warm! Around here, those baseboards were used on additions when the installers weren’t willing to do it “right.” Very expensive way to heat.
I was thoroughly disappointed that no one did that at my workplace, but I think it’s because many towns postponed Halloween until Friday or Saturday due to power outages from the Sunday/Monday storm. So I’d better see some damn chocolate on the kitchen counter next Monday morning, dammit.
I have a multi family house in Queens, and have installed individual boilers for each unit…the reality is I do not have follow that 68 degrees, so now my tenants keep it as warm or cool as they like, and better yet, they pay the gas bill themselves…it is a win/win…
I did order my fresh killed turkey, yesterday!
Made some meatballs with tomato sauce. Half beef and half pork with bread crumbs soaked in heavy cream and water (didn’t have any milk), an egg yolk, Italian parsley, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, pepper. Baked in oven at 350F for 30 minutes. Tomato sauce was a couple of anchovy fillets mashed up with garlic cooked with some 6 in 1 ground tomatoes.
