Baby It’s Cold Outside!

Brrrrrr!  When I woke up this morning, the outside temperature was 13F.  This is really cold for Arlington, VA, but par for the course for many a Chicago winter morning.  In the 6.5 years we lived in the Windy City, I learned a few things about not only tolerating the cold, but actually enjoying it.  I’ll readily admit that when we moved there from DC, I was clueless about many of the things it took to thrive during the winter.  Not only did I have to learn about how to dress for the snow, but I had to learn how to walk in it.  Silly, but true.

The day we moved into our place in Old Town it was snowing to beat the band, so after hours of dealing with movers and boxes, John and I set out for dinner, headed down North Ave towards Wells.  We were in front of the Dunkin’ Donuts where there was only a slight path through the snow on the uncleared sidewalk and I was having a hard time keeping up with John. I had stuck my freezing hands in my pockets and was listing back and forth as I tried to maintain a forward momentum.  The snow was still coming down pretty hard and the wind was blowing. Combine that noise with my hat and I really couldn’t hear anything. John turned around from almost a block ahead and shouted something to me.  It sounded like, “Take off your pants!”  What?!  So not funny him trying to be naughty when it’s freezing out.  I was not going to take off my pants!  He trudged back to where I was wobbling my way through the snow and said, “Honey, take your hands out of your pockets, for balance.”  OHHHH!  Now that’s what we call a lightbulb moment. I took my hands out of my pockets, held my arms out to the sides and windmilled my way to dinner. Years later, I still can’t live this down.

Speaking of cold weather activities, one of my favorite things to do when the mercury dips is to bake.  A warm oven makes for a warm house.  This morning I started with popovers.  I simplified/adapted the classic recipe from “The Joy of Cooking” and always use some really ancient popover pans that I (ahem) ‘borrowed’ from my mom.

• 1 cup bread flour (AP is fine)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine in a separate bowl and allow to come to room temperature:

• 2 eggs
• 1+1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

Stir the liquid slowly into the dry ingredients. Beat the ingredients until they are well blended, then pour  batter into oiled  popover pans, filling them only half full. Bake the popovers in a hot oven 450 F degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F degrees and bake for another 20 minutes until dark golden brown. Remove them at once from oven and pans and poke popovers with a knife tip to let steam escape.  (Note: Heavy oven-proof glass ramekins may be substituted for a popover pan. Oil them well and bake them on a cookie sheet. Some recipes suggest muffin tins are OK to use.)

Yummy.

Popovers by Amy Knebel