barry burton

I like the a little bit Cold

The cold has returned, once again, though hopefully for a slightly longer stay this time. Granted, it is only Alabama cold, and granted, it will leave several times more before January, but I am enjoying it while it lasts.

As it turns out, I really like the smell of air pushed through a heating appliance that has just been turned on for the first time that season. I’m not sure what it smells like but I think that it just reminds me cold weather and the holidays are on their way and I like the idea.

I haven’t written in a while and it feels strange. Its not working quite right.

Last week, while cleaning out the attic, we came across a few boxes of old Christmas decorations. The ornaments and knick-knacks, unused for a few years now, were wrapped in old newsprint, as they were every year, before being placed into the box. As I sorted through some of the items, unwrapping and otherwise rustling the paper about, I came to the startling realization that dry, old, stale newsprint smells like Christmas, or at least the beginning of Christmas, to me.

Today I saw Sara of the Sciaccas, with all the kids, at the Super Target. It was fun. Then I perused the food section, which was my intention for the visit, where I found that the nogs had arrived. The various Soy Nogs, Organic Horizon Nogs, and plain old Barber’s wrapped up like a present Nogs were all present. I got some Silk Nog and Horizon Nog. I am excited to try Organic Nog for the first time. I’m thinking super good but I’ll have to see. I do love the egg nog (in small quantities of course).

As an aside, what is egg nog coffee creamer? Seriously? I will be the first to admit, a little coffee flavored eg egg nog flavored coffee can be delicious. This end, however, is easy to achieve - just add a little egg nog to your freaking coffee. (of course, if large amounts de-coffifying are needed for your palette, then water down the egg nog with milk as appropriate. you don’t want your coffee to be too thick. that could be gross. though not as bad as espresso flavored oatmeal gross.) So something like Hazelnut creamer at least makes some sense. It is a bit difficult to just stir a Hazelnut into your coffee. But I am just missing how eggnog creamer can be any more convenient than eggnog itself.

Then again, what is the point of coffee creamer in general? Do you just not have enough corn syrup solids and soybean oil in your diet already that you need to get them from less obvious sources? I guess the whole non-perishable thing is nice, but real milk combined with whatever flavor you like, plus maybe a little sugar just tastes so much better. There are even very nice tasting flavor syrups of all varieties, but how can you turn down extracts? :) Especially that yummy Vanilla extract. I don’t know of any Cinnamon extracts, but sprinkling a little bit in with the coffee grounds before brewing can be quite delicious. A little Nutmeg works well in the filter basket also. Just be careful not to overdue the sprinkling, as too much ground spices will clog the paper filters and then the coffee takes an hour to drip through. (not a good state of affairs for the morning-time).

Tonight one of the new Album Leaf songs was the big episode closing song on Grey’s Anatomy, with at least a minute or two of airtime. Sweet.

Saturday is the Vulcan 10k. I am so not ready.