Planning Ahead: A Winter Day in the Kitchen

During our weekly editorial meeting my boss, Yankee‘s editor, Mel Allen, was sparking our creativity, trying to get us to think about winter issues for 2010 (!). He asked us about the perfect snowy winter day and how we would spend it. Most of my colleagues were thinking outside the four walls: skiing, ice fishing, building snowmen. Not me — I was indoors, in baggy flannel pajama bottoms and that old “Newport” sweatshirt.

As Mel and my colleagues spoke of stacking cords of wood and snowball fights, I could smell a big hunk of meat searing in my giant orange Dutch oven. I could feel the reverb in my hands from chopping vegetables. I saw myself adding the chicken stock and popping the pot in the oven for hours of braising. I imagined the earthy scent of roasted parsnips and the garnet juices of beets. A mix of music began to play: some Al Green, Ben Harper, Eva Cassidy, Crowded House, Johnsmith …

Red wine poured into glasses … Friends hanging around … Mel asked me a question and I could only stare at him. He had moved on to other topics, but I was stuck in my kitchen as the snow piled up outside. Perhaps the light snow falling outside our New Hampshire offices beckoned me away from the meeting, to cozier environs.

How would you spend a perfect winter day? Inside or out? And what would you cook if you stayed inside? Leave a comment, if you please.