As we were crawling into bed last night, we heard the snowfall warning.  “Ffffft”, said I. I mean really, how many times do the weather people warn us of these things, and then nothing happens.

Well, well, well, all you weather people at Environment Canada should be proud of yourselves this morning. You hit it bang on. Amazing snow. No sense to describe it, since most of you live in Alberta and know exactly whats I be speaking of.

(Whoops, iTunes has stopped. Must fiddle with my music selection as I cannot write without some sort of musical din in the background….ah, there we go. Nothing like a little bit of Pink Floyd to set the mood. It’s On the Run for those of you who like the detail.)

This morning I met up with a dear friend for breakfast at Route 99. We both oinked out and had a farmers’ breakfast –  eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, toast, hashbrowns AND a pancake. Of course, the dainty girls that we are, we did not finish our plates.  Nearly. But not quite. You will also observe, that neither of us are Jewish or Muslim.

Interesting to note, that this dear friend lives in Halifax. But with our eletronic connections, its like no time has past since I last saw her. Thank you Steve Jobs. Thank you Bill Gates.

Today, my day off, was supposed to be the Day To Do Errands. So I did what most sensible people would do, and went home. However, the challenge of fighting traffic and the snow became an obsession, so I put on Practical Winter Clothing and trudged out to the bus stop, determined to get downtown.

Those of you who read my Facebook status, know already that I waited for five minutes for a bus. A bus that was one block away from me, and stuck dead in traffic. I looked north, and parked in the traffic were four other busses. So I says to myself, that I’m going to walk north and just hop on the bus as it passes the stop.  I get to those stops, and no one has moved. Just then the sturdy Ukrainian genes that I have kicked into gear, and I decided that I will walk into downtown. In good weather it takes me about 30 minutes. And just like our parents before us, I did actually walk through a foot of snow, uphill, with just a few few foot prints to follow (and had I walked home, it would have been walking uphill both ways).

I have never felt so smug in my life. No kidding, I walked downtown, did my two errands, walked to the southbound bus stop, chatted with half of Edmonton (Edmontonians get chatty when the weather gets stupid), waited 30 seconds for a bus, and zoom, we slid down one hill, and spun our wheels up the other. And there, on my left, the same buses I passed walking into downtown about an hour earlier, were still there, stuck in traffic. I wondered if the passengers were starting to sing songs, or if they kept their heads buried in their Suduko puzzles, or were they muttering profanity and texting their friends with plans to take the next plane to Phoenix.

Nothing else puts me in such a good mood. Ignoring bad weather. Avoiding traffic. All on my own two sticks.

Now at this point I must pause as I sip a bit more wine…. my readership is growing, and I am so pleased. It delights me, and terrifies me.  I am a modest sort of person, but a practical one at that. So now, I wonder, when they turn my blog into a movie, how they will shoot this winter scene I just described? Some things I should keep in my head and not say/type out loud.

I digress as I do, and will get to the points of today’s blog…. garlic.

Study this picture:

Yes, yes, good. You noticed, I hope, that it is garlic (ignore that fact that I gave a hint). On the left is the Safeway/Sobeys/Save-On shit one buys. On the right, is a glorious specimen of Proper Garlic. I bought this from the Hutterites at the farmers’ market in Old Strathcona. Ignore the fact it cost as much as a time share in Hawaii. As you can see, a single clove is nearly the size of the entire head of Safeway/Sobeys/Save-On garlic. Chopping the Hutterite garlic is like chopping an apple. The flavour? Garlic. Pure lovely garlic. My Ukranian genes sing songs of joy and dance the Shumka dance.

I have a bit of that garlic, along with pancetta, beef, onion, carrots, green peppers, tomatoes, wine and spices simmering on the stove top. And that my friends, is our supper tonight. I would love you all to come over and join us. Mind you, by then, I’ll be asleep on the couch for all the wine I’ve been sampling.