Nesting

Some crazy gene that I am normally not even aware of apparently turns on and goes into overdrive when it gets cold. The nesting gene? Hell, I don’t know but as soon as the weather turns cold and ugly and wintry, I head for the kitchen. Since Alaska sent a storm down to us and we are experiencing rain, snow, sleet and freezing temperatures, I started cooking.

I wanted large quantities of warm, fragrant, fresh food and so I started rattling those pots and pans. Last night, IN ONE EVENING, I made a huge pot of delicious split pea soup. It was thick and tasty and all filled with ham and onions and shredded carrots. The family loved it. Then I made cornbread to go with it because who can have split pea soup without hot crusty cornbread? Then, of course, you have to have dessert and since I couldn’t decide what to make, I made a chocolate cake AND a batch of white, cranberry, nut candy.

Apparently, at this point, I still wasn’t well “nested” enough, so I made some orange-cranberry muffins which we enjoyed this morning. At that point my cooking ardor cooled and I sat down to enjoy the rest of the evening.

This is not the first time this has happened to me and I’m sure it won’t be the last, but I do find it to be an interesting phenomenon. Cold weather = cooking large quantities of hot nourishing food. Although, honestly, I’m not sure just how nourishing the sweets are, but they are certainly tasty.

Speaking of which, I thought I’d share the candy recipe with you since nothing could be easier and we think it is most delicious. Quantities are at your own discretion, since how much you use of each ingredient depends on how much you want to make. Therefore, I’ll just give you basic directions and you make however much you want. Get some white chocolate chips. Melt them in the microwave. Once you have liquid chocolate, add some dried cranberries. You will find them in the same area of the store where the raisins are. Then add pistachio nuts. Stir it all together. Then spread the candy mixture into the container of your choice and let it harden. Then cut candy, eat candy and enjoy. See? Extremely simple. The tartness of the cranberries, the saltiness of the pistachios and the extreme sweetness of the melted white chocolate all combine together to make some seriously tasty candy. Try it, you’ll like it.