the snow may be gone but winter is here and i can prove it. first of all, there's all kinds of ice to be found. i don't really like breaking ice, so the task of taking a hammer to the water barrel is always a bit creepy. it feels like bashing someone's skull in (not that i'd know...) but luckily my dad will come over tomorrow and he can turn it over (it's too heavy for me). i won't be watering anything in the garden anymore this year.
frosty leaves are a hint, but taking a photograph of one is a giveaway. there can be no true winter without this classic composition, but here we are now. you're welcome.
then there are the winter mushrooms. you remember these, right? enoki! also known as velvet shank or flammulina velutipes. there's tons this time. a spruce had fallen right next to my precious stump in the storm, onto my usual path, but luckily not onto the treasure itself. i only picked the biggish ones (they're all still tiny) and put them in my miso soup for breakfast.
there's pomegranates! good ones! i was making a chocolate tart with raspberries but messed the chocolate up trying to melt it in a frying pan (who knew...) so it became a cream pie instead and needed a bit of oomph from the jewel-like seeds. it's amazing. i put no sugar in the whipping cream and there's only a little in the cake, so it's surprisingly light and fresh and easy to eat loads of... (there's golden raspberries from the freezer as a filling.)
have i convinced you?
