Eating warm foods when it is way below zero

By dinnertime this evening it was back to -17F.  Roya, who has been stuck at home for ages decided she wanted to go out, so with much trepidation, we let her go out on her own.  Now, she’s a big girl and has done lots of winter driving.  But the subzero temps are no joking matter — earlier this week, a sleepwalking Hayward man froze to death, and frostbite occurs within minutes.  So we made sure she brought along boots, extra gloves, and a sleeping bag in the back seat.  Parents!  When did we become such wet blankets? 

Roya was going to miss dinner, so Papa made yet another recipe from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. Although the two younger kids have become fantastic eaters compared to their childhood days, Roya still draws the line at stews made, as ours was this evening, from onions, pineapple, peanut butter, kale, cilantro, and hot chili sauce.  We had it over rice with some sauteed bananas on the side. 

It may not look like much, but it was delicious, and very inexpensive, which pleased us a lot.
Then we played Scrabble, which I won by 8 points, and it was a fine winter night.  If I could stop worrying about Roya out there.  On the positive side, it’s much colder here in the valley.   For instance, although our thermometer says it’s -15F, the official current temp for Madison is -8 with -21 windchill.  Now, doesn’t this make us feel all better?