Well, Drat

     Tam had a very mild cold last week; she updated her cough-drop supply and spent a day at home.  It's still fading.

     Friday evening, I was kind of worn out and put it down to driving home in the beginnings of a snowstorm.

     Saturday morning, Tam shoveled the walks.  It kept snowing.  I shoveled the walks again that afternoon (and they needed it badly; the snow was still falling), rested a bit and made a quick run to the grocery for food.  The walks were covered again by the time I returned -- and our grocer's is only a few blocks away.

     I made chili for dinner.  About half-way through my bowl, it seemed to turn spicy-hot on me.  I crumbled in some crackers and finished it.

     I woke in the night with a funny, one-sided sore throat and very full sinuses.  I had picked up a cold from someone, somewhere and my exertion doing the walks -- look, we try to do all of 'em, at least  along the street, to our front door and from the back door to the garage -- probably hadn't helped.

     There was a pork roast in the fridge.  I marinated it in some pickling brine from a mostly-empty jar of home-made giardiniera with a little extra apple cider vinegar, soy sauce and oregano.  It sat in the fridge until later afternoon while I sat around the house, drinking a little eggnog and a lot of tea and beef bouillon.  Three and a half hours before dinner time, I browned the pork roast on all sides, set it on the meat rack in the same stewpot after deglazing with a little water,  poured a cup of chicken-mushroom broth over it and added three bay leaves along with sections of apple and turnip and put the lid on.  I rested a while, then put in parsnips and carrots, potatoes and celery, onion and shitaake mushrooms over the course of about ninety minutes -- and the effort wore me out.

     Luckily, most of cooking a big pork roast consists of ignoring it once the pot is simmering.  Along with the potatoes, I dropped in a cube of Knorr vegetable broth on a hunch,* and that worked out.

     Come dinnertime, the meat nearly fell apart.  It was moist and had good flavor, as did the veggies and mushrooms.  I took my time cleaning up the dishes and freezing the leftovers-- my nose was filling up quickly after every honk by then.  I fell into bed after finishing most of the dishes and only woke up to sneeze.

     Twelve hours later, here I am.  The sore throat has faded, my sinuses have at least slowed -- and I have less energy than a sleepy kitten.  It's still too cold (single digits) to order delivery in good conscience; I've had coffee, almond biscotti and a few saltines, which feels like plenty already.

     But I'm going back to bed.
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* The chicken-mushroom broth is low sodium, and while the pickling brine marinade most definitely is not, nearly all of it is discarded.  So a cup's worth of salty broth was liable to be fine, and it was.  That may be my favorite brand for vegetable and beef broth concentrate.