Here's how it really makes me feel:
Granted, I've only been twice, both times at the same location and with the same type of skis. Perhaps if I went out in the woods on some super fat, well-edged skis, I might feel differently. One thing I do know is that super skinny, edgeless skis made for speed are not my bag.Here's why I want to like skiing: Mark loves it. Most of my friends love it. When I tell people I'm still a little apprehensive about winter, they all tell me to go x-c skiing. I like to exercise and be outside. It's a good way to get out into the woods in a season that I normally stay locked away inside.
Here's why I don't like skiing:
I can't steer myself. I definitely can't brake and my current stopping method is to just fall over and/or try to steer myself into deep snow, hopefully avoiding trees. I don't like things I'm not good at and skiing definitely falls into this category. Everyone else loves it and I still have a bit of my contrary teenage nature buried not so deeply inside myself that wants to not like things that everyone else likes.
Fortunately, something I do like is snowshoeing. It's slow, I don't fall over and I can definitely steer myself and stop on a dime. Granted, it can be kind of a drag when I'm knee deep in snow and Mark goes gliding by on his skis, but not being miserable far outweighs any fleeting jealousy I may feel as I watch him cruise downhill. Last weekend we skiied/snowshoed to Cheever Falls. I hadn't been there since this summer and it was fun to see the falls frozen in place and covered in snow.
Here's something else I like. Making soup. Last week I made a giant pot of Black Bean Soup with sweet potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, corn, lemon juice and cilantro. I made it up and it turned out even better than I had hoped. We ate a quart and there are 4 more in the freezer waiting for those nights that neither Mark nor I can be bothered to cook. Two weeks ago I had an incredibly productive day that involved finishing my book club book (more on that later), doing laundry, writing a letter to my grandma, washing my hair, deep cleaning the kitchen, baking cookies, co-facilitating a Mother-Daughter group through our local Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault prevention program AWARE, and baking bread and making soup from the cookbook 'Love Soup'.
Love Soup is a great cookbook by Anna Thomas that my Mom bought for her friend and then wished she had a copy for herself, so I bought her a copy for X-mas last year and then wished I had a copy for myself so she bought me one for my birthday this year. It focuses on soups, but also has some small sections devoted to side dishes and baked goods. On my super productive day I made a loaf of her multi-grain bread and 5 quarts of her Orange Ginger Carrot soup. Her recipes are easy to follow and taste great. If you can get your hands on a copy of this book, I suggest doing so.Other news.....I started a book club! Our first meeting was January 22nd and we read the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. I hosted and made collard greens and black-eyed peas. Katie made cornbread and Lindsay made buttermilk biscuits. Amy brought over her and John's projector and we watched the movie on the 'big screen' which was a somewhat crinkled bed sheet nailed to the wall. Though we didn't do much discussing of the book and only 3 of the 6 people in attendance had actually read it, it was a good excuse to get together with friends to share a meal and a film. Our next book is Like Water for Chocolate, hosted by Katie.
In future endeavors, Mark has decided to work at Harvest Hill this upcoming season in a more managerial role. We'll be moving off the farm to an as of yet unknown location in April to make room for the 3 interns Bill will be hiring to work with him and Mark. I will continue working at the Co-op as well as working for Maggie McGuire and hopefully picking up some other odd jobs here and there. I've also started volunteering with AWARE, so that'll keep me busy as well.
In beer news our first beer was a success! The Chinook IPA was full bodied and bitter, but with a pleasant, flowery after taste. We brought it to a number of gatherings and people appeared to enjoy it. We're storing 5 bottles to taste at various intervals to see how it changes as it ages. We bottled our second beer, a Scottish Ale last weekend and it should hopefully be ready in a week or two. Here are a couple bottling and capping pictures.
Bottling.
Capping.Our next brew is a Black IPA. Mark and a co-worker ordered some kits from Northern Brewer the place we ordered our starter kit and Chinook IPA kit from and it should be here by Monday. Though all the sanitizing can be a bit of a drag, brewing beer is fun and it's awfully rewarding to pop the top off something you made. There's also a great local brew store in the area, Local Potion that we have been frequenting. The owner made up a Scottish Ale kit for Mark and in the future we hope to buy grains from them and start to head away from the kits and more into the DIY realm.
Tonight we're heading to Barre to see the Carolina Chocolate Drops. They're a trio of 20-somethings that trained with an 80+ year old fiddler named Joe Thompson who taught them how to play in the style of the southern, black string bands. Now they've taken that training and blended it with their own, modern style. It's bound to be a great show and I'm pretty stoked. Other adventures include my trip to LA, which is rapidly approaching, Mark's trip to Austin in March, and hopefully a shared trip to NYC in the not too distant future.
I hope you're all doing well.
Heart.
