Another polar vortex is
doing its nasty business here in Kansas. The temperature this morning was 8ยบ F.
and a skiff of snow covered the ground. I’ll confess it took me a long time to
get up the courage to go outside to let the chickens out. By the time I went
into their house to unhook their little door they had produced five eggs. With
frigid fingers I picked them up and discovered to my delight that they were
still quite warm. In my jacket pockets they served well as hand warmers as I
made my way back to the people house.
That was fun, but the day
stretched out before me. The trick, I think, to getting through winter with
one’s sanity intact is to find something interesting to do every day. I decided
to sew up napkins from a long-forgotten piece of linen that I unearthed the
other day. Figuring out how many napkins of what size, measuring and cutting
fabric, and making mitered corners was good exercise for my brain and I loved
the patterns of the various napkins.
Next I decided to make some
chocolate syrup. Boy, I am so glad I broke off my long relationship with
Hershey’s chocolate syrup, because homemade syrup has Hershey’s beat all to
pieces. What’s more it is very easy and quick to make. In case you, too, are
facing another day stuck inside, here’s the recipe:
1 cup sugar
½ cup Ghirardelli’s
unsweetened cocoa
¾ cup of water (or strong
coffee if you like mocha)
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a 2-quart saucepan mix
together the sugar, cocoa, and salt.
Add ¼ cup of water (or coffee) and stir until all the dry ingredients
are moistened. Then stir in the remaining liquid.
Bring to a boil and boil
for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time to keep the syrup from boiling
over. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Let the syrup cool. Spoon a
little over a bowl of ice cream. Sit down with a good book and enjoy the
rewards of your labor.
Now what? Maybe I’ll make
some placemats to go with the napkins.
Copyright
2014 by Shirley Domer
