First signs of winter's approach

1. Flakes of snow. Not many. None stuck. But definitely snow.
2. Christmas music. Right now Oscar Peterson's version of Winter Wonderland is playing on my iTunes. You don't want to know how much Christmas music (and other shopping) I've done since the start of the month.
3. Chapped lips. Burt's Bees beeswax lip balm is now tingling all around my mouth.
4. Brussels sprouts. To me, they're a classic cold weather vegetable. Shown below is Conrad's dinner - he's not yet home from a veeeeeeery long day of work (poor guy!). I thought he might be home before I went to the pool, so I coated a pork tenderloin with a paste of rosemary, garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt, black pepper and raosted it at 400 for about 35 minutes. Meanwhile I trimmed and halved a bunch of the sprouts, cooked them until just tender in lightly salted water, then drained them and set them aside, covered. I cooked three slices of hickory smoked bacon in a pan, removed the bacon when crispy to drain, the added some sliced shallot to the pan to saute in the bacon grease. After the shallots had browned a little, I deglazed the pan with some wine and added some coarse grain mustard. Then came the Brussels sprouts, followed by the crumbled bacon. Okay, not the best for Conrad's cholesterol, but low in carbs!! The plate shown is presently warming in a low oven.

Alright then, we just had the BNL version of Do They Know It's Christmas, and up now is their rendition of Carol of the Bells. Wheee!