In a word: cold!

Twenty-eight degrees and a bright winter sun that, while it was awfully nice of him to show up, did little to really warm anyone. I was in and out, an abbreviated run: more Brussels sprouts (we're addicted, I'll share the new recipe soon), a semolina loaf, two apple danishes, cider, milk and yogurt, and I was hurrying back home to coffee, my sunny dining table, and The New York Times. (Are those last four words cause for some readers to turn away?)

In this weekend's NYT, Gastronomy is an Editor's Choice (hurrah!). Plus, it's the magazine's Year In Ideas issue. Did you know that cows with names produce more milk? Or that a new type of faucet may help to contain kitchen fires? Or that a prefecture in Japan with high levels of naturally occurring lithium in the water has fewer suicides than other areas? I'm just saying, it's not all bad.














*My mother-in-law sent me home from Thanksgiving with a bouquet of red-berried branches from her holly tree, happy to pass them along before the birds, deer and wild turkeys devoured them. I noticed this morning that our neighbors have a beautiful purple variety. Besides crumbs from the waffle truck parked on our corner, what delectables are so busying the Brooklyn birds? These plump gems looked so luscious, I wanted to nibble them myself.