After a gorgeous day to tempt us with what’s to come, today is rainy and hovering on the freezing mark. I worked at the store yesterday and I giggle to myself as I do at the end of every day like that. The people are so much fun. We talk about what they cook, what their tastes are and I love watching their joy at tasting and exploring. It’s a social submersion I sometimes forget I miss in my days of solitary writing.

I dig through my cavernous closet full of the suits of armour I wore for so many years. A silk scarf and a pair of boots, clothing that hasn’t seen the light of day in months. It feels like an exquisite private party I allowed to host with chefs and skeptics, in the bright space of the store. The gleaming, stainless steel fustis bounce back the warm colors of the walls. I realize my entire life’s palate is soft oranges and yellows; my home, my clothes, even my dog! Who’d have thought, life selling olive oil could be such fun?

This week’s pet project has been pulling together the details for our first “drop-in cooking demo and tasting.” Saturday, guest chef Joe Stanislaw, will be in the store serving salmon, seared sea scallops, Potatoes Anna and Rainbow Slaw. I’ve been working on the press release, advertising, press coverage and hand-outs. Not since the Holiday Book Fair last fall have I had a chance to really stretch my creative thoughts in this way.

So with cooking becoming so much of the conversation I am finding a need to capture recipes. I want to say right up front, there is no way I could ever write a cook book without the aid of  special software to helped with the ingredient lists and such. That is not my idea of fun writing. What is my idea of fun is throwing the basic’s out there and adjusting the dish as you go. I am the queen of how to:

1. Not dirty a lot of dishes
2. Use somewhat prepared ingredients
3. End up with something that tastes like I slaved.

Lunch today, amid the gray of my office windows was frozen butternut squash raviolis with fresh sage and butternut squash seed oil. Ten minutes, one pot, from freezer to me. Add a simple salad of baby greens and I’m good to go.

So though the world insists I remember and stay for a little while longer in this frozen state of winter, I feel new life all around me. Something is about to crack wide open, it may be Spring.