Winter: Scenes from Home

Don't try to seduce us with you beautiful icicle frame, winter


or reward us with blue skies and early morning sunlight reflected on the treetops


The reality is extra foot or so of snow on the terrace


and a giant snow wall... with more forecast for the weekend.

Cold

Does this give you any idea how cold it is on Long Island? Given a sunset this pretty I would normally be dashing down to the beach to document the free show but when it's this cold, 22F (-6c) but feels like 7F (-14c), I'd rather shoot it from inside!

Queen Canute

The weather people are forecasting another dollop of white stuff tonight and tomorrow, this despite someone declaring a Snowatus, a respite from snow for a period of time (I'm thinking decades would be a good length). We haven't fully dug out from the storm last week that landed on top of the remnants of the day-after-xmas Snowpocageddon although the icicles are no longer as spectacular as they were.
My curmudgeonliness may be due to the postponement of a trip to the far coast, where it's apparently unseasonably balmy right now but on the other hand I have shoveller's back and I'm sick of cleaning sand and snowmelt off the animals' paws. Thank you winter, enough already!
So I'm going to sit in my American MCM classic chair and, as the Viking ruler of England did with the waves (or so goes the legend), command the snow not to fall.

New Year's Art

Last week I picked up the art I'd selected at the Festivus Art show, along with a few extra surprises. Noted artist Nadine Bouler had slipped in an extra piece of House Art to go with Two if by Sea, a mixed-media piece that mixes architecture and shore imagery, which I've long admired. They are grouped together, under a Arthur Luiz Piza lithiograph, on the credenza in the great room along with a watercolor by Andrew Geller, a Sharyn Bradford nude and Great Tern by Olivia Bouler. And the Puffin peeking out from the frame of Olivia's painting? That's her younger brother Jackson's business card, which he kindly presented to me when we collected the art.


I also found this gorgeous silver bird ornament in Nadine's sack of goodies and I immediately placed it in its new home-the Satellite fruit bowl cage in the dining room.


I've hung my other piece of Festivus art, Louise Millman's collage Joy in the kitchen. I'm thinking of hanging a calender under it to tick off the days until I'm eligible to take the citizenship exam and one step nearer to getting my voting rights restored.

Ice Curtain

it's gorgeous outside but brutally cold, luckily I can shoot the sun reflected on these icicles through the west-facing dining room window. Click for full effect!

Snowmygod!

Alternative title: Spying on the neighbors

Laziest, best-tasting soup in the world

For Maria who asked for this recipe, not THIS ONE! I guess the easiest way to make this soup would be to open a can of Campbell's Cream of Tomato Soup but I don't keep canned ready-made soup in the pantry so my easy way is to use a can of the best Marinara Sauce I've found anywhere- minus the tablespoon or so I used on the pizza base when making thin crust Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Pizzas earlier:

Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients
I 28 oz can of Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce
Half a quart carton of low-sodium chicken broth
3 dried chillies (these chillies) left whole
Salt and pepper
I cup of heavy cream
2 Tbls finely chopped Italian parsley
Half a bunch of finely chopped basil

Method
Carefully pour the marinara sauce and chicken stock into a casserole so you don' get splashed. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat, add chillies, salt and pepper and simmer for 20 mins. Add cream, most of the herbs, adjust salt and pepper and warm for another 5-10 minutes. Serve with a sprinkling of left-over herbs. Enjoy!

Easy Tomato & Fennel Soup

For Maria who asked for the recipe

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
2 chopped celery stalks
I clove garlic, crushed
2 finely chopped fennel bulbs
1 28-ounce can diced Italian tomatoes
I quart carton low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbls finely chopped Italian parsley
2 tbls torn basil

Method
Sauté onions, garlic, celery and fennel in the olive oil over a medium heat for 5 minutes without browning. Add tomatoes and stock, salt and pepper and bring to a gentle boil, then lower heat and simmer for 40 mins until vegetables are completely tender. Take off heat and cool slighty. Puree with a hand blender or carefully pour into a blender/food processor and whizz until just smooth. Pour back into pan, set heat on low to reheat, adding most of the chopped parsley and basil and adjusting salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle the remaining herbs on top. Serves 8-12.
Light, warming and colorful and served to revellers on New Year's Eve as an alternative to Split Pea and Ham Soup.

Long Shadows

The angle of the sun going down behind the hill opposite the house casts deep early afternoon shadows at this time of year.

Partial Thaw

Heckscher Park, Huntington, NY

Coffee Anyone?

Can I pour you a cup?