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The beautiful frosting on my back-garden this morning!
Waking up on a chilly winter's morning, you sleepily draw the blinds to reveal a glistening dusting of white outside.
The world looks beautiful - still, silent and stunningly sparkling, you can't help but feel a well of childish excitment start to awaken in you.
That first crunch on perfect, untrodden snow. The precise collection on the branches and the chill on your cheeks as you go for a winter walk.
But then, if you're anything like me, once the excitment has worn off slightly you find yourself degraded to a toddler who is only just learning to walk.
Your legs turn to jelly, balance goes out of the window, and you find yourself grabbing the nearest stranger as you attempt to stay upright on the icy paths.
After watching several cars skid down a hill backwards (and in my direction) this morning as I shuffled through the snow, I decided that nearly being crushed would win against the desire to be outside, and that the snow would be best admired from within my central-heated house!
Pasta, a garlicy bolognese sauce and plenty of cheese = ultimate snow rations!
After all, days like this are for comfort - warm slippers, hot chocolate, and most importantly - hot, homely meals.
Not humiliating myself every five minutes by falling over...
So for those of you who were beginning to wonder if you're reading the wrong blog, there is a foody element underneath all the admiration for the newly created winter outside my window.
Realising an-almost empty fridge wasn't the best start to my indoor- based "anti-going-out-in-the-snow-and-falling-over protest", I was pleased to discover some bolognese sauce lurking at the back of the shelf which, in true Blue Peter style, I created earlier.
There's something about bolognese which just tastes so much better the next day.
I cooked this up the other day - just mince, an onion, lots of garlic, a tin of tomatoes, tomato puree and a handful of herbs, salt and pepper.
At the time, it was great - but now, two days later, it's a whole new whirlwind of flavours.
Walking in a winter wonderland?
It's like all the flavours from the onion, the garlic, the herbs and the meat needs a day or two to sit and mingle, and suddenly it's a powerful dish to be enjoyed hot or cold, with a big flavour.
I decided, today, to enjoy a proper bolognese (except I had no spaghetti, so I went for Glutafin's Tagliatelle) with lots of cheese on top.
This tagliatelle is great - it comes in little nests and I found four of the nests (approx 100g) is the perfect serving for me with a good dollop of hot bolognese sauce on top.
The pasta cooked really quickly (around 8 minutes), didn't stick together at all and was a great taste with an appealing colour.
Overall, the perfect snow rations, and I've got plenty left for tomorrow to tide me over until the streets are safe for me to wobble down again!
Until then, I've got some mince pies staring at me which are just dying to be eaten..... more on that later!
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