Softly, Snow

Schools closed at 2 p.m. today in Adair County.

Already it has been announced that there will be no school tomorrow.

The local on-line "magazine" has listed cancellations of events and meetings.

Doing errands this noon we were reminded by complete strangers that we needed to get home before it snowed and the roads got "ahcey." [ICY!]

Sleet slid coldly down the backs of our necks as we loaded a few purchases in the back of the car and headed for home.  Within moments the downfall tapered off.

Looking out at dusk I saw snowflakes falling in a thick white haze.

I stepped out onto the carport, walked around the front porch.

The stillness was profound.

No wind seemed to stir.

The evergreen leaves of the nandina shrubs hold the snow.

J. was still working in the shop and the lights cast an orange glow in the deepening dusk.

The distant view of Big Creek Valley is lost in snowfall.

The girl kittens were [sensibly] snug in the barn, but Willis danced through the snow, scattering it with his paws.

I made individual tossed salads for supper and served them while soup simmered.

Potato/cheddar, thick and hearty.

J. requested popovers.

I resisted at first thinking it would take too long, but what deadlines do we have to meet?

Above are popovers with J.'s homemade butter melting in the centers.

Potato soup and popovers.

Wood fires putting out cozy heat.

A fine evening to be at home.

The Doughnut Recipe

Buttermilk Doughnuts

3 Eggs

1 1/2 c Sugar

3 tb Oil

1 1/2 c Buttermilk or clabbered sour milk

1 ts Ground nutmeg

1 ts Vanilla

1/2 ts Baking powder

1 ts Baking soda

1 ts Salt

5 1/2 c White flour, not sifted

Preheat fat fryer to 350F. Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and buttermilk

with a wire whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the yolks are broken

up and distributed. Add the spices, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda,

and salt; mix well. Fold the flour into the mixture until the ingredients

are no longer wet. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. The batter will thicken

by itself without needing more flour which would toughen the doughnuts.

Drop half of the dough onto a floured board and knead lightly into a ball

with folded ends underneath. Roll the dough into a round shape about 1/2

inch thick. Cut with a doughnut cutter. Knead the leftover dough into the

second half of the mixture. Repeat kneading and rolling. Be very sparing

with the flour. Dust the dough very lightly, but don't over flour. Your

dough should not be sticky if left to rest for 5 to 10 minutes as instructed.

Cook the doughnuts in hot oil, 1 inch deep in the pan. Brown the doughnuts

for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Makes 30 doughnuts and 30 holes.

We used clabbered sour milk, stirred the baking soda into it before adding to the other ingredients.

While warm, shake the doughnuts in a cinnamon/sugar mixture--if you have a paper bag, that works nicely.

These are sinfully good warm--and still good later on with a hot mug of something.

I'm abashed to say that in three days time we've made huge inroads on the ones we didn't give away.

Fresh Doughnuts, Anyone?

J. announced on Friday that he would like to make doughnuts.

[Mind you, implicit in this innocent suggestion was the thought that I would in fact be heavily involved in the production and clean-up.]

I declined the project on grounds of a planned trip to the local Wal Mart for groceries, followed by some much-needed house cleaning.

 I should have known I hadn't heard the last of the doughnuts!

The idea resurfaced this afternoon and it was obvious that nothing was going to put a spanner in the works.

I could [cheerfully] lend my culinary skills or watch from the sidelines while J. got going.

We used to make doughnuts during the Vermont years---when we had more family around to help eat them.

Fresh apple cider with warm doughnuts is an autumn tradition in New England, and they are pretty good at other times of the year as well.

Strangely, during the dozen years in Wyoming, we never made any.

Several months ago I unpacked a few cookbooks.  The one with my cherished recipe for buttermilk doughnuts went back in the carton--which went back into the stack, which went back into the space under the basement stairs.

I made a half-hearted search for the cookbooks, then resorted to the internet.

A quarter hour of reading recipes turned up one that seemed similar to the "tried and true."

By this time J. had hurried up to the store for a gallon jug of cooking oil and was impatiently clattering skillets in the kitchen.

Getting in each others' way in the small space, I beat eggs, oil and sugar while J. measured out clabbered milk and the flour.

[The wooden-handled fork J. is using was handed down from my great-grandparents' kitchen.]

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Making doughnuts is a two-person task. I rolled and cut the dough, while J. deep-fried, turned, and then shook the warm rounds in a cinnamon/sugar mixture.

I put the kettle on--tea for me, coffee for J.--and we sampled our wares and found them very tasty.

If we take to making doughnuts regularly we shall have to share them or we shall turn into blimps.

J. heaped a plate with some and drove next door to present them to D.H. and his wife.

They were having bacon and pancakes as a mid-afternoon "supper" and invited J. to sit down.

Being rather full of doughnuts he declined a plate of pancakes, but was more than willing to "visit."

[Which gave me a chance to clean up the mess in peace!]

D. and S. declared that the doughnuts were a fine finish to their meal!

Now--what to do with the rest of them?