Winter Days, Travels and Comfort Food

comments (0) January 20th, 2014

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susan belsinger, contributor

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Here is a brumous view of snow weighing down the bamboo.

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Winter Days, Travels and Comfort Food

My gardener friend John Forti, from New England, recently posted the following word on Facebook; it is one with which I was not familiar:

brumous
(adjective) of grey skies and winter days; filled with heavy clouds or fog; relating to winter or cold, sunless weather.

What a great word! It is certainly a good description of what many of us in the U.S. are experiencing as winter weather (other than y'all down South or out there in California).

This past weekend, I just rode, white-knuckled, through a blizzard from Pittsburgh to Mercer County, Pennsylvania en route to speak to the Mercer County Master Gardeners. Stalwart souls gardeners are… 17º F and they showed up bright and early the next morning (bearing cakes, cookies, scones, breads, egg dishes and more; those MGs sure can cook!) to hear about how to grow and cook with the Mediterranean herbs, as well as how to make cordials, pesto and sugar scrubs. It was a satisfying, fun-filled, long day and I had to get to the Pittsburgh airport by 4:30 pm so I could catch the last flight out to Baltimore-with a layover in Detroit-go figure!

So I got in late last night, slept in this morning and in between watering the greenhouse, unpacking and laundry, thought about comfort food. With what I had on hand and in the fridge, I decided to make Oven-Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Carrots with Brown and Wild Rice for supper. And it was so tasty and comforting, I'm sharing the recipe here with you.