Yesterday and today have been filled with cooking in preparation for Greg's upcoming birthday (this Friday; he'll be 37).  There's been some laundry and ad-hoc cleaning in there, too, but accomplishments (mostly yesterday's) have included:

- cut up and roasted veggies for polenta
- roasted & mashed butternut squash for a) souffle and b) Peabody
- roasted peppers for soup
- made a vegetarian white lasagna with Greg's homemade alfredo sauce (which is unbelievably good, especially when one takes into account the fact that he can't taste it)
- a couple of loads of laundry (time to put some more in and fold the stuff on the line)
- defrosted whey and have started simmering it down for gjetost
- packed the sauerkraut to let it continue to ferment

The soup (and stock) has gotten a little derailed by me cleaning the everloving bejeezus out of the cooktop--or, at least, trying to.  Note to self:  when making baking soda soft scrub, dishwashing soap completely pales in comparison to Dr. Bronner's.

Oh, crap.  That reminds me--I zapped some lemon slices in water in the microwave to soften all the gunk up, preparatory to cleaning it.  Then, of course, I wound up getting distracted (by the neurotic greyhound staying with us for a few days) and totally forgot about it.  *sigh*  Back to zapping, methinks.

Today:  making lacto-fermented sauerkraut--cabbage, leftover whey, salt, and caraway seeds.  Me trying to smoosh the cabbage in a bowl with a meat hammer is turning out to be one of those not-so-easy propositions.  *sigh*

Yesterday, shopping with Greg, I noticed there were flower and veggie seeds on display in some of the stores.  Cue an immediate jonesing for summer.  Ah well--it's already late February.  May will be here before I know it.  In the meantime, I do have some flowers that need repotting (into a brass bin that needs polishing, first), herbs that probably need watering, and a blooming paperwhite.  The other is resistant, for some reason.

It's cold and snowy outside, but we're looking forward to spring.  A friend pointed out that spring is now less than a month away!  Of course, knowing Steamboat, it'll still be snowing like all get out halfway into May.  Not a bad thing, as we've been low on our snow loads this year and we'll need the moisture come summer.

I will say, however, that with the last three years having 100" months in December, January, and February, that it was nice having a little bit of a break this year.  Whew!

We're eyeing our woodpile and scheming where to get more.  I dug out my last two gallons of raw goat milk from the freezer yesterday and am getting ready to make some lovely cheese.  We've signed up for a Front Range CSA, but hoping that this summer will be kinder to our garden than the last.  We've months to go, but I can't wait for warmer weather.