The Perfect Day

Woke up this morning to a steady, gentle snowfall and a white world. We decided not to chance the streets, so we bundled up in all our layers and walked to the bus stop, headed for the last farmer's market. The bus was an hour late, but we spent the time frolicking in the snow and watching cars lose traction on the hill. We'd just given up on the bus and were going home to make waffles when the bus showed up and granted all of us a free ride.

When we got to the farmer's market, there was only one stand open; they'd cancelled the market. So we bought a bag of shallots and two small butternut squashes just to say thanks to the diehards, and hopped the streetcar to Trendy-Third (NW 23rd Ave., where hipsters reign supreme). We had mediocre overpriced Japanese food for lunch and I enjoyed a minor shopping spree at Lush. By then the snow was a few inches deep and made whispery puffs around my feet as I walked, and I had fun playing in it as only a Southern gal can.

We took the streetcar to Powell's and roamed the books, then bought beeswax Chanukah candles and Emmentaler cheese at Whole Foods, sampling their clementines and caramel apple dip while we were there. From there we walked to Mary's - Portland's oldest and greatest little titty bar - to say hello to a friend of mine, but she wasn't able to make it to work that day because of the weather, so we roamed Chinatown and downtown, caught the bus home, and made it home just as the snow and wind were getting nasty.

I had a hot bath and we snacked on homemade cranberry-orange bread, toasted and buttered, with mugs of hot buttered rum (I made the butter-batter last night from a recipe in the Portland Mercury, and it's quite good in my opinion, though K didn't care for it). After a bit of relaxation, I whipped up dinner: tomato-lentil soup with the leftover Cornish game hen shredded and stirred in, along with carrots, baby spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic, and a shallot, and honey cornbread on the side. I've been experimenting with cornbread recipes but tonight I threw this one together and am proud to say I have finally, at long last, nailed cornbread! We had our soup and cornbread by a hot-popping fire, and now we're sipping an amazing burgundy by that fire, listening to the wind howling as it blows the snow against our shaking windows. I'm glad to be in tonight.