March Ado About Snow

Tuesday, Pi Day, was a snow day roundabout Exit 151. It was a typical March snowstorm, heavier than snow earlier in the winter, and it shut everything down. Fortunately, I had obtained turkey and stuffing pie and bangers and mash pie from The Pie Store a day ahead, so was very well-provisioned for the day's festivities. Unfortunately, DH was so grumpy and hungry after shoveling snow that there are no pie pix, just glowing reviews of both.



In between shoveling snow and feeding Hungry Man I mixed up a batch of Blueberry Ginger Shrub for the March Food in Jars Challenge (jellies and shrubs), using the cold process technique outlined by Michael Dietsch on Serious Eats. Stir, let sit in the fridge, sample. I'd never tried shrub before, which is an old-fangled blend of vinegar, fruit, and sugar, and I have learned something important. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, boasts (Act 5, Scene 1, and what a scene it is):

Woo't drink up eisel [vinegar], eat a crocodile?
I'll do it.

Not me. Shrub and the drinks based on same are not to my taste. The concoction is not meant to be drunk straight, but rather mixed with one's favorite mixer and an optional splash of booze for an old-is-new-again cocktail. I tried ginger ale and still found the mix overly acetic, YMMV. It did help the fruit flavors to let the drink breathe and come to room temperature, which makes sense for something originally developed pre-refrigeration. But, I'll pass on this one.



I'm also going to pass on Sock Madness 11. Sadly, between too much travel and a qualifier's pattern that made my wrists hurt, this is as far as I had gotten as of 2:45 pm EDT today. One sock, with counting thread and a long tail at the toe because I knit to specs but plan to undo the star toe and substitute my preferred wedge toe. That means I qualified for patterns, but not for competition... which may be the best for my sanity and my wrists!

Tomorrow I'm away again. Alas, the tales of my away adventures are piling up and I'm too busy/lazy to set them in order. Must try to address that soon.