In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion

This is when winter in upstate New York gets tricky. It’s the time of year when one expects it to be spring, but it’s not quite yet spring. I’m toying with the idea of taking the snow tires off the car.

Even removing the weather aspect, this March is going to be madness. But to get the full scope of this month I’m going to have to back up a couple of days.

First, the diet ended when I went to the lab and had my blood drawn. I’m cautiously optimistic that my months of clean living will have resulted in a beneficial cleansing of the arteries. But the proof is in the platelets or the lipid count or something.

But I had to end the diet, because I was going to be sitting down with my favorite local cheesemonger and learning a thing or two about Spanish cheeses, the highlight of which was an aged goats milk cheese accompanied by an orange blossom honey blended with Basque peppers. Eric is apparently out of this honey at The Cheese Traveler, but he’s getting some come. Call ahead to make sure it’s in stock before running down to pick it up.

Last night it was finally time to get smart about German wines and the different growing regions. It was an eye opening experience, and I’m glad that so many people came out to the Charles F. Lucas Confectionery and Wine Bar to support such an event. It should mean that we’ll get more such opportunities in the future. And for our little neck of the woods to get so much attention from the international wine community is truly amazing.

Thursday I cook with Leah the Nosher in preparation for the annual Jewish Food Festival at Gates in Schenectady. We will have a food blogger table where we will be serving borscht with some sour cream made by Britin of All Good Bakers. As always, she’ll be using the amazing cream from Meadow Brook for the task.

Friday is D-Day. I’ve got to man up and walk into the doctors office to face the facts of my blood work. Until then, life is jolly. So it’s almost as if the carnitas torta from La Mexicana and the bacon, egg and cheese from The Brown Bag never even happened.

Friday night I’ve got a potluck, and I’ve already planned out the dish. It’s a savory porcini bread pudding. There will be some kind of cheese. That part I haven’t quite figured out yet, but I will.

Sunday is the actual Jewish Food Festival. It should be fun. I hope to see you there. I’ll have more information later this week.

According to my calendar, next Wednesday, March 13, there is a No Farms No Food rally in Albany. That sounds important.

Then it’s St. Patrick’s Day. Followed by a week of jury duty. Followed by a week of Passover. Passover and I have a love/hate kind of relationship.

Then it’s April. And it will still probably be freezing.

The trick to this time of year is not getting discouraged when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel of winter. You can see it, you know you are getting to the end, but it just doesn’t seem to be getting much closer. Which is especially frustrating, as you hear from other people elsewhere in the country that spring has already arrived.

Yeah. March is going to eat my lunch. But it’s going to make April that much better. When does it get warm here anyway? I can’t even remember. It feels like last spring was a million years ago.