The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
50 happy things
Food and dining editor Ligaya Figueras turns the tables on winter doldrums,
Can we be done with winter? Raindrops keep falling on my head. It’s cold. It’s cloudy. I can’t remember the last time the sun came out.
In the doldrums of such mucky weather, I find myself grasping for anything to put me in better spirits. Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens …
Sure, maybe, not really. Pictures of cute pets and babies don’t do the trick for me. I seek refuge in food.
These are the few of my favorite things. …
1. Thinking about dinner far too much, and hoping the menu in my head becomes reality
2. Remembering all the years of snatching newly laid eggs from the chicken coop (thanks, Francois and Beardy!), better when a rooster didn’t peck at my heels as I ran back to the house, clutching the goods
3. A fried egg
4. Illegal clipping of an edible flower or herb from a park or botanical garden, or, even better, from a cemetery, because you know that all the souls in those places are rooting for us. We wouldn’t steal the plant if we didn’t have good intentions, right?
5. The smell of fresh rosemary on my fingers
6. Standing under a fig tree and eating all the ripe fruit within arm’s reach
7. Kneading dough
8. Flour everywhere
9. Putting on a clean apron
10. Aprons with pockets
11. A dirty apron
12. Dirty kitchen hands, not fit to shake another hand
13. The funky smell of rising bread
14. A pat of butter melting on hot, freshly baked bread
15. Wrapping my fingers around a mug of hot tea
16. When someone else puts on a pot of hot tea
17. Witch sisters, who give a potful of advice along with a pot of hot tea
18. Watching droplets bead and sweat down the sides of a glass of ice water
19. Snipping herbs from the garden, in the rain (see No. 5)
20. Hot cocoa, better with mini marshmallows, even better yet in my favorite mug
21. Gin and tonic, with good gin and good tonic — or not
22. Vintage coupe glasses
23. Cake pedestals
24. Whole milk
25. Real butter
26. Popcorn and Netflix
27. Stealing snacks from the pantry — as an adult, in my own home
28. Gifts of jam and jelly — honey, too
29. Planning a dinner menu in my head (see No. 1)
30. Preheating the oven
31. Not giving up on a cookbook recipe, just yet
32. When a dish starts out one way and goes another
33. Scouring the spice cabinet for the one shaker that might do the trick
34. The 5 minutes that a cooked steak gives the cook to rest
35. A pot of fluffy white rice, especially when I managed not to peek while it was cooking
36. Kix, Chex and other Mom-approved cereals that we sugar-deprived kids grew up with
37. Cap’n Crunch
38. Eating cottage cheese out of the container when no one is looking
39. Eating anything out of the container when no one is looking
40. A clean countertop (see Marie Kondo)
41. The first tomatoes of summer (see your local farmers markets)
42. The first tomatoes of summer from my own garden
43. Anything from my own garden
44. A sharpened chef ’s knife
45. Grinding spices in a mortar and pestle, letting go of any grievances
46. Cooking whole spices and hearing them pop
47. Chopping an onion, thinking victory because I didn’t shed a tear
48. Setting the table with my best china
49. Washing an empty casserole dish, because they ate every last bit
50. Flowers on the table, from my husband, just because.