Spring is beginning to creep in.....and Cooking up some warmth

Nature has been mostly kind to us here this winter. We have had some snow, mostly in the month of December. The river was frozen from right after Thanksgiving to last week. It froze solid about two and a half miles across the river, and defrosted some, once or twice for a day or two.  For more than the last week it has been completely iced out, all liquid. Thank goodness. When the river is frozen it really drops the ambient temperatures around here and in the house, so it is a relief when it melts out. Usually we are starting spring come March 1. Considering it is not February 1 yet, I am hoping for an early spring.

Spring is definitely starting to emerge. The male Goldfinches are beginning to sprout some of their golden summer feathers. Under their beak and wings you can see the tell tale yellow growing in. The females remain their winter gray, no changes with them yet. I saw our first Red Wing Blackbird two days ago. This time last year we had a whole flock of noisy panic stricken Red Wings who returned to the area only to find two feet of unusual snow cover everywhere. We seem to have a resident Bald Eagle visiting almost daily. Many times I see him fly by past my windows while he is hunting the cove outside my door. Two days ago I saw what I think was a Golden Eagle or possibly a juvenile Bald Eagle take a fish out of the water with his feet. It was pretty awesome. As I said Spring seems to be beginning to awaken, even though the calendar isn't indicating it is time for that to happen.

We did some heavy cooking here today to warm the place up and create some meals for the next few days.  It started with a chicken that I roasted. I didn't think to photograph it, but it could have won a roast chicken beauty pageant. That was a missed opportunity! It came out of the oven looking so golden delicious and perfect! The smells that filled the house were outrageous. I filled the cavity with fresh Rosemary from my garden and some cut up onions. Then I drenched the insides and breast with a mixture I concocted from red wine, garlic, sage, salt , pepper, oregano and parsley. The herbal aromas just spread their tentacles around our nostrils and pulled us into the kitchen.  It did not disappoint when served, it was super tender and delicious! The roasted chicken carcass was used to create stock for chicken vegetable soup with orzo. That will feed us for a few more days for either lunch or dinner.

Once on a roll, I dove into making a Banana Walnut Bread that came out of the oven looking quite spectacular. You can see the photo I did remember to take, right above here. Complementing my own accomplishments might be distasteful, but I must say the crispy crack in the center of the bread ( shown to the left here) deserves comment. Perfect! It is looking pretty good if I do say so myself....