I woke up yesterday to a gray, rainy, chilly day and thought, “I have got to get out of here.”
I woke up today to a gray, rainy, mildly chilly day and thought, “Oh, what a good day to snuggle down into my cozy nest and write a lot.”
I’m really not sure what the difference is. I had a nice lake view yesterday and you’d think that would have satisfied me. I’m speculating, though, that green is the color that matters. Yesterday’s campground was gravel and dirt, gray tree trunks, dead brown leaves, slate water, overcast sky. Today’s campground is some of the above (although not the water), but also spring green grass and forest green pine trees. Plenty of brown in view, too, but it doesn’t feel Gothic.
Another difference might be technological. I had no Internet connection and no cell service at yesterday’s campground. I’ve actually quite enjoyed being without internet at points in my travels — it pushes me to be present, to appreciate where I am, instead of mindlessly browsing FB or reading news stories that I instantly forget. But only, I suppose, in places where I feel safe. In general, I like knowing that if I need help, it’s a phone call away.
So, yes, today’s cozy nest includes internet browsing and probably some texting with friends. It also includes some cooking. I picked up chicken breast on sale at the grocery store yesterday, and I’ve already got my sous vide churning away. Two experiments: one with lime juice, yogurt, and mint, and the other with parsley, cilantro, garlic and olive oil. The danger with sous vide chicken is having the flavors be too strong, so I’m a little worried about the garlic version, but if I hate it, Zelda will be very happy to have my leftovers.
As soon as I finish cooking the chicken, I’ve got some corn-on-the-cob ready to go in. I’m quite excited to try it. I thought the sous vide corn I cooked last summer was close to the best corn I’d ever eaten, and it was late summer corn. This is, I hope, very early summer corn, nice and fresh, so it ought to be even better. I’ll see, I guess!
I’m also debating a scallop soup. I’ve got bay scallops in the freezer that need to be used up, but so far I can’t decide between a spicy ginger-lime scallop soup — maybe with rice noodles? — or a chowder-style soup with coconut milk and maybe some curry. But I bought a mix of gluten-free cheese biscuits at Aldi a few weeks back and I think the soup winner might be whatever would go best with the biscuits. The nicest part of mildly chilly days is that using the oven doesn’t cook us, too.
So, yep, cozy day in Mississippi ahead of me. And with some good words on Grace to go, too!
Great, now I’m hungry… 😎
The corn was delicious!
Glad you are cozy and writing. I’m about to get cozy and read.
I hope your book was terrific! Do you like Sarina Bowen? She’s doing a weekly serial — one chapter a week, from her college series — and it’s not good for me. I’ve got that yearning feeling when there’s a story that I *need* to finish reading and the rest of the story isn’t available.
Mmmm… sounds cozy.
It’s a rainy day here (very rare for us lately). I don’t feel exactly cozy though. I feel as though I should be doing something, but I’m not sure what I want to be working on. B thinks I should just be paying attention to him. Earlier, I put him in a cardboard box and pushed him around the house.
Oh, fun! I was thinking as I walked Zelda this morning (not entirely randomly) that I would happily give a year of my life to spend a week with child R again, and I picked 2-year-old R as the one that I would most want to be with. But baby R would have been pretty compelling, too.