domestic dilettante, humorless feminist shrew

After a ridiculously mild December and January, February has hit us full force. We have a bunch of snow, and more coming. Unlike some people, we have not decreed that everything close down for days on end, which I’m more than a little bit bitter about. I would like some snow days, too, please.

Since that seems unlikely, we’ve been holing up as best we can. This evening I finally admitted that despite the difficulty in getting cars in or out of the driveway, we weren’t about to shovel, and I paid some guys from Craigslist to come clear it off. I expect that this investment will last until about three p.m. tomorrow, by which point there will be another foot of snow. Still, we’ll call that a win, as it means that as of right now, the car is in the garage and the driveway is navigable again.

It was actually almost nice to go out this morning, actually–the everything was iced over, including the trees, and it was pretty gorgeous. It almost made up for having to leave the house.

For those of you who are lucky enough to not have to leave the house, can I suggest making some cookies? Maura and I made these last weekend, and they were delicious.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs (not jumbo–if you’ve got giant eggs, use two)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together butter, sugar, and salt. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto greased (or parchment lined) cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for between eight and twelve minutes, depending on how well-done you like your cookies and how effective your oven is. (If you are me, you will bake each tray of cookies for nearly 25 minutes–my oven, obviously, is not very effective at all.)

Consume with milk.