Five for Friday, Food, Nature

Five for Friday: When Bad Weather Comes, Eat Pie and Muffins!

44 Comments

Another week, another nor’easter. This mourning dove illustrates how we Mainers felt as we  cleaned the snow from our driveways and walkways.

Yet not all hope is lost. Do you see what I see when looking at this picture? Snow and branches, yes, but also little buds. Clearly, the tree thinks spring is coming even if the weather says otherwise.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that nor’easter number four is predicted for next week. How much bad weather can one region get before it starts to feel like showing off?  I think we crossed that threshold two storms ago, and still the storms come. Right now, there is some debate as to how fierce the next nor’easter will be. It all depends on how close to land it is. May it be far out to sea, away from ships and people.

At this point, some readers might be wondering what the heck a nor’easter is and why we dread them so. Here is a definition from  AccuWeather: “[T}he main difference between a hurricane and nor’easter is the size of the wind field. According to NOAA, a wind field is the three-dimensional spatial pattern of winds…Hurricanes have a narrow field of strong winds with a concentration around the center, whereas a nor’easter’s winds are spread out…For example, a hurricane may only have a 30-mile radius of a strong wind field around the center, while a nor’easter may have a 100-mile radius of a strong wind field from the center.”

Simply put, a nor’easter is a winter hurricane with a very large wind field that can cause a lot of damage. We are right to fear them.

But let us turn our thoughts away from nor’easters and instead focus on one of my favorite subjects—food.

In the U.S., because of the way we order our dates—month and day rather than the reverse—we had pie or pi day on Wednesday, March 14. Pies are one of my favorite things to make and eat, and in honor of pi day, I made an apple pie. I bought local apples—McIntoshes—that had been perfectly stored so that they were still slightly tart. Our friend Mary Jane came over to have pie with us, and I even convinced her to take a slice home. After all, one pie for two people is a bit much. Not that we couldn’t eat it all, but we certainly shouldn’t.

Another kind of pie is pizza. Before digging into the apple pie, Mary Jane, Clif, and I went TJ’s in Monmouth to have some beautifully cooked pizza.

Then, to gild the lily, Mary Jane gave us some donut muffins, which we had for breakfast the next day. With a hint of nutmeg in the batter and the sugar and cinnamon on top, those muffins were utterly delicious. Many thanks, Mary Jane!

To conclude: The weather might be frightful, but when the food is good, somehow things don’t seem quite as bad.

 

 

 

44 thoughts on “Five for Friday: When Bad Weather Comes, Eat Pie and Muffins!”

  1. Here’s to the next one going out to sea!! Enough is enough with the storms!

    Love your apple pies – very good way to celebrate pi day!! 🙂

  2. I love the pi symbols on your pie and the reminder that the buds are waiting beneath the snow. I took a walk today and the sunlight was heavenly but the wind was not. The wise mourning dove knows how to keep warm.

  4. I love the way you celebrate pi day 😀 May have to adopt that myself! We had four sub-tropical cyclones hit the country this summer – our usual count is none. So I understand how you feel – best wishes!

  5. Love the look of your delicious pie and this cold weather makes eating hearty foods with friends a great way to spend the day! A happy weekend to you all and may you all stay safe and warm 🤗💖 xxx

  6. I feel like a bear in a cave waiting for the signal to come out and play. And another thought is that all this snow is frozen water which will melt and replenish the water table and hopefully prevent a summer drought.

    1. Thanks, Judy! Fingers crossed that the bad weather will be over by the time you head north.

  12. Your explanation of the difference between a hurricane and a nor’easter was very interesting, and neither are welcome I’m sure.
    I love your pies, and the perfect thing for pi day. I’m always hungry in cold weather, so I would love those pies in your weather.

    1. Pies are just the thing for cold weather. Neither hurricanes nor nor’easters are one bit welcome.

  13. Doesn’t it seem that icky winter weather justifies over-the-top eating? I always feel like I deserve something decadent after I shovel . . .

    1. I know. I didn’t realize it either, and I’ve been through many of them. But we do fear them, and as I mentioned in the post, rightly so. They can do a lot of damage.

  15. I am trying to be very good and have cut right down on my carbohydrates and now, here you are waving pi(e)s and pizzas and doughnut muffins around in front of me! And how absolutely mouthwatering they look too! I hope you enjoyed them and that the next nor-easter blows itself out before it gets to you. 🙂

    1. We did enjoy them. I make muffins on a regular basis, usually bran muffins, which are somewhat good for you and quite tasty. I only make pies a few times a year, pi day being one of those times.

  17. Well, when there’s a storm blowing through, there’s always food! And it sounds like you have the basics covered..pizza pie, apple pie, and donuts!

  19. Lovely photo of the dove and snow! I can handle snow much better than wind, but I do believe your delicious looking pie (love the pi symbols), pizza and muffins could make me forget about the wind for a little bit.

  20. A while back, I asked a friend who’s a better cook than I am how to keep my pie crust from going soggy the next day. “Eat it all on the first day,” she said. So one pie for two people? Duty calls.

Comments are closed.