My Favorite Things

It's a chilly day in Brooklyn. The weather is finally dropping, as we knew it inevitably would, but secretly pretended it would take weeks and weeks for winter to materialize. I'm always stunned by winters here- it gets ... so ... cold. I like to think ten years living in Wisconsin helped buffer me a bit, but get in between one of those wind tunnels on a narrow street lined with skyscrapers and you have entered the Canadian province of Nunavut.

Some simple indulgences are a good way to end my first day with the two-month-old baby Lily, my newest co-star. She will be a regular to the blog, as she's a fellow Brooklyn girl with a great appetite and hunger for life. I just started nannying for her and I can already tell we're going to have some great adventures together.

One of the benefits to this time of year, besides all the holiday cheer, is the abundance of comfort food and the satisfaction it brings. I'm a hard-core soup girl and I rock it all year long, but it's never better than on chilly days like today. My personal favorite is from Trader Joe's:

... and no matter how many times I've made roasted red pepper soup from scratch, I can never make it as good as from the carton, believe it or not. Try it with chevre crumbled in, it will change your life.

Also on shelves, which I never discovered until last year- peppermint and chocolate have done it again! Be careful with these, I singlehandedly ate an entire box over a weekend. They filling is way better than that mystery green stuff in the mint Oreos. Trader Joe's also has chocolate covered oreos, but I prefer these:





It's been a good day, and I'm looking forward to a mellow night nesting. One thing about the cold is that it always curbs my adventurous side. At least some good food will come out of it.