Another milestone as new home owners – being stuck home for Valentine’s Day thanks to a thick blanket of snow covering half the state. It’s not like we were going out to eat anyway, thanks to the pandemic, but the important bit here is the snow! And of course the first snow came with its own surprises.
Mostly, everything was fine. The roof is new, no issues there. Water spigots properly covered, no issues there. We entertained ourselves by feeding the birds from the back door. Kelly made little food cakes out of bird seed, peanut butter and some other ingredients, she had laying around (No, I don’t have a recipe, it was bird food). I trained a few of the little ones to take peanuts from my hand, and soon they were doing it from both of us. Power stayed on, house stayed warm, it was really pretty good.
We were even able to play an adventure from the Temple of Elemental Evil D&D board game with a friend joining in remotely. It was almost like having someone over for game night in the snow. I do miss seeing my friends in person, but this was a lot of fun too.
So everything seemed to go really well, except for one of the doors on the balcony. It was opened (to check the balcony itself – which was fine) and immediately would not shut. Turns out a patch of exposed wood decided to seize the moment and expand a bit. Just enough to keep the door from closing. It’s an old house and strange things are expected but this happened so fast, it was downright eerie.
After having ruled out loose hinges and plates as a solution, there was nothing left to do but to sand the exposed wood just enough that I could close the door and lock it. It didn’t take much really, I just wasn’t expecting to be sanding a door when I got up in the morning. We will return to deal with this door properly, when there is no longer snow everywhere!
Not all surprises are bad, thankfully. Kelly tasked me to make her a sweet and milky hot cocktail, so we could end the first night of quiet, perfectly white snow covering the world on a warm and comforting note. Hot and milky, she said, so I went looking at what we had to go with this challenge, and came up with a Snow Bliss.
The result turned out nutty and rich, sweet and creamy. My only regret was not making enough for two more.
Snow Bliss
The ingredients below makes 1 drink, but you’ll want another. Don’t be me; triple everything, but also drink responsibly and stuff. I don’t have a picture of it, because we drank them so fast, but it looks like warm milk. So, just imagine that.
- 1 oz Frangelico (almond liqueur)
- 1 generous oz brandy
- 1 dash of simple syrup
- 1 cup of whole milk, heated with 2 tsp of honey and a few drops of vanilla essence, until just before boiling (stir it!)
Pour the booze and syrup first and top off with the milk mixture. Give it a gentle stir, perhaps with a fancy stick or a festive straw. It doesn’t taste boozy at all, and you’ll be tempted to guzzle. Try to pace yourself like an adult. Either way, you may notice the alcohol later, perhaps as a faint heat in your cheeks or ears – that’s the bliss in the name.