Sand Trucks and Puff Pastry

Contributed by Benson Hill resident Kari Kopnick:

So I’m ready for spring. Anyone else? I mean, come on. I know we need rain to be the Evergreen State and that our salmon need the snow pack and that this is just how it is here, but really, couldn’t it be fifty degrees out and still rain a bit? Or how about if it just rains at night? That’d be good. We could live with that. And then we could have SUNSHINE during the days!

OK, OK, OK. Fine. This is just how it is, yes. And at least we don’t have ten bazillion snow days behind us already or an ice storm or a wind storm. And the only time the power has gone out this year it was short lived and it didn’t even have time to get cold in the house. All those people with those fancy shiny new generators are probably just crouched waiting for a good storm. But not me. Not this year. Please!

We did have that nice snow day or storm day or ice day or whatever we call it when you are listening to morning radio for the list of schools that are closed and your kids start whooping and yelling and jumping around.

The dog gets dusted with snowflakes in the back yard But I couldn’t even enjoy it. I had family members out on the roads in the north and every two seconds the radio folks were talking about spin-outs and people in the ditches and accidents and head on-collisions and things that made me keep sitting by the radio and not getting a thing done.

The one thing I CAN do when someone I love is driving in nasty weather out there with maniac drivers is to cook. That I can accomplish. My hands can do something and my ears don’t have to bother to stop listening to the new accidents and closures that get listed on the radio. I know it’s neurotic, but in the scheme of things, it’s not so bad. No one gets hurt. I just make a monster mess in the kitchen.

So this week I decided that homemade scones might help pass the time or make a nice cozy welcome if my family all came home safe and sound. That was good. The SCONES were good, especially with jam and a steaming cup of tea.

But we still weren’t all under the same roof yet. By this time the roads were pretty clear and some trucks must have been out laying a bit of sand on the spots that had been icy earlier in the day. Is that a city job? How many trucks do we even have to DO that? Will it be better and faster after we’re really annexed over here on Benson Hill?

So I had to cook some more. I decided to roll with the English theme I’d started, so I made a meat pie, but of course without the meat since some of us don’t eat meat. I made a huge amount of fluffy mashed potatoes for the side, and even sautéed some steak on the side for the carnivores in the house. I rolled the puff pastry out and in true panic mode even cut some hearts to show the guys I live with that I really do love them, that is, I’d show them if they ever made it home!

My meatless “meat” pie!Well, yep, FINALLY they all came home and no one was even in a little scrape. The sand that the trucks had dumped seemed to just sit on the hills, maybe ready for the next ice. It seemed like the whole mess had hardly even happened. Except in front of the fire at the end of the day, I was the hero. Horray for mom because she made a feast for us!

No way am I gonna tell them it was just a little therapy to deal with my monster anxiety. Let ’em think I’m the hero.

And please, everyone, pray for spring!

Kari