I keep meaning to cook something - I have this risotto I'd like to make, I have this piece of salmon waiting to be panko crusted, but I have this problem. It is very, very cold in my house. Okay, I guess that's a relative term. It is 55 degrees in my house. It sounds like it might be a nice temperature for the beautiful autumn day that we're having outside, but when you're sitting at the computer trying to write or standing in the kitchen trying to chop things, it makes for quickly freezing fingers.
It all started like this...Husband and I, wary of the projected 65-70% rise in natural gas rates in the Midwest, decided that we would wait as long as possible to turn on the heat. As the temperature lowered in the house, all of the cats started to look at us suspiciously, as though maybe starvation would be coming after freezing. The cats and the humans slowly became sluggish and irritable, burrowing under covers and huddling together to keep warm. We decided to give in and turn on the heat. Unfortunately, the furnace decided it wasn't quite ready yet. We, apparently, are not the only people having this difficulty, as the furnace people can't quite seem to nail down a time when they can come check it out, nor can they seem to arrive after we've nailed down said 4 hour window. It actually occurred to me (briefly) to attempt to build a fire in our decorative fireplace (it does not connect to a chimney). Cold must numb brain cells as well as appendages.
All of that to say, no salmon. No risotto. Lots of hot coffee and soup. Lots of covers and slippers and fuzzy socks. Although the oven is occasionally set to 450 and left empty, just to raise the temperature a degree or 2.
