Some days just scream for cozy cooking. You know the type, grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, meatloaf and green beans. It’s not quite kid-food, though there’s a definite aspect of nostalgia for childhood that enhances the familiar, comforting, flavors.

Today was such a day for Fuzzy and me. He stayed home sick, but wound up working from home because of the four people in his group, two had already called in sick and the other had just announced that he was leaving for another company.

As for me, well, I work from home, anyway, so I made tea, posted rates, did some loan stuff, started laundry, did more laundry, and generally puttered about, cleaning things, and prepping the living room for the Christmas tree, which I also dragged in from the garage.

A friend had posted a blog entry of her own, recently, about her new banana bread recipe, and since we had bananas that were rapidly turning into scary things on the counter, and we both love banana bread, I emailed her for the recipe, and decided to try it. I modified it a bit, doubling the cinnamon, adding a touch of nutmeg, and, since the bag of walnuts I had was 2 cups, and not the 1.5 that the recipe called for, increased the amount of nuts as well. After all, who needs half a cup of walnuts just lying around?

While the banana bread was in the oven, and the sweet cinammony smell was oozing out of said oven, and wafting through the house, I did something I rarely do – I made lunch. Now, it must be known that I despise most forms of tomato soup. And Fuzzy adores it. So, I get thousands of extra wife points today, because when I made lunch, I not only made grillled cheese sandwiches, but I ALSO made soup. TOMATO soup. The smile on his fevered face was almost worth the fact that I had to eat the stuff.

He went back upstairs to his office after that, and I (after calling him back down to help with the tall parts), have been puttering with the tree ever since. I’m currently in the middle of shaping it (my mother will be visiting us over the holidays, and as she’s allergic, we have yet another plastic tree. This year, it’s pre-lit.) I’m not doing ornaments tonight. I never do ornaments the first night. I like to live with the lit tree for a few days and get a feel for it, and sort of plan my attack. But let me tell you, having the pre-lit tree has totally made my year.

While I was working, I let TiVo play back two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (Spike is currently running season three, the first season the uniforms had collars), an episode of Strong Medicine, and then tonight’s episode of The West Wing. I think CSI NY is playing now, but I’m waiting for my meatloaf to cool so I can eat.

Oh, right, I also made meatloaf.
And green beans.

I’m such the domestic goddess today.

So, there you have it. A gray day, not particularly cold until the sun went down, but dreary, nonetheless, made better with a little banana bread.

I hope this doesn’t make Fuzzy expect me to cook every night…