More snow!

It's November 9, and we saw our second snow-storm of the season today. Luckily, the snow is melting within 24 hours, but it's still too early. From my understanding, snow doesn't typically make its way to Stockholm until much closer to Christmas.

Today's snowfall gave me a brief taste of some of the worst things winter has to offer. Three inches of slush on the sidewalks brought me to the harsh realization that the seams of my dress shoes aren't waterproof. The partially ploughed sidewalks weren't a joy on my walk from the subway station up the hill to our apartment either. Why do snowplows scrape just enough snow to leave a packed layer of wet ice? I'm afraid Miranda and I might not survive the winter if they don't lower their blades. The hill up to our apartment is just steep enough to scare me. Lastly, wet snow on a wool coat just doesn't smell good, and thanks to a client meeting today, the wool coat was necessary.

At least the client meeting went well.

An update on Miranda the student. Progress is being made, slowly but surely. She gets overwhelmed for at least 30 minutes a day, but she rebounds quickly, and that's good enough for now.

An update on Scott the homemaker. My Sunday steak with a bleu cheese spread turned out really well. The recipe came from Huffington Post, and you can check it out here. I don't know why I decided to try a recipe from a liberal news blog, but I like most the other stuff I find on that site, so it seemed worth a try. I broiled the steak in the oven, along with a side of broiled cherry tomatoes and cubed potatoes fried in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil and lightly seasoned with sea salt and garlic powder. We paired this with a bottle of Cantillon Gueuze. The only downside was that we bought the wrong type of peppercorns, shopping by look instead of by name. We should have known that the Swedish name translated to "spiced peppercorns," whatever those are supposed to be. I couldn't even tell you exactly what spices were used, all I know is that it smells like St. Nicolas broke into the peppercorn jar and spread a little Christmas cheer. For a substitute I used pre-ground strong black pepper. The steak was spicy, but the bleu cheese spread really helped. Plus, the extra pepper went nicely with the potatoes.

Miranda just told me that she made a hamburger for lunch yesterday, which was topped with the bleu cheese spread. In her words, "that was also excellent."

Last night I got off easy - a late night at work and a hungry wife meant a homemade pizza was waiting for me when I got home. Our homemade pizza making skills keep improving, and she raised the bar last night. Freshly cut salami, red onion, red peppers, a fluffy yoghurt based crust and hints of basil and oregano. Mums!

Again, an early yet later than desired night at work followed by two and a half hours dedicated to the gym (30 minutes to get there from work, 30 minute run, 60 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes to clean up and 20 minutes home) meant I had to bail on cooking tonight. I delivered Chipotle-style takeaway on my way to the gym. Miranda was happy (although unhappy that she had to come out in the snow to meet me on the subway platform as I passed by), but I was hungry when I finally got around to my burrito at 9:45. FYI, my burrito was dried out and disappointing. My mouth wished I would have skipped the run and eaten the burrito when it was fresh, but ultimately I think my stomach will be happier with the order I chose.

I have a London Broil marinating in the fridge for tomorrow night. It's about a two-inch thick roast and very lean. The marinade includes red wine, balsamic vinegar, lots of fresh garlic, a little honey, a little salt and a little soy sauce. It smelled delicious when I sealed it up. Now I just need to pick a side dish. I case you haven't noticed, my apparent cooking theme this week is red meat. I might have to switch it up and go for a chicken dish on Thursday.

Oh yeah, I baked the Fischbach family's chocolate crazy cake on Friday night and also made the usual buttercream frosting. It turned out perfectly, and since there are only two of us to eat it, dessert is taken care of until the weekend. Awesome.

That's all for now. Hej då!