The Cooks Corner: January 28

The kids got together to cut and split us some wood on Sunday, Jan. 28. Now, January isn’t usually the right time for bonfires, hot dogs, and marshmallows, but last Sunday it was warm jacket weather and we had a good time cooking over the fire in the front yard.
They had most of the wood cut and were working on splitting when we got home from church, so we missed out on most of the work. We don’t feel too bad because they were using Angie’s tractor, which makes short work of splitting wood. So with a couple of them working on that it didn’t take long at all to cut up four old willow trunks that we had cut down several years ago.
The last time we were burning wood that came from these trees we ended up with some strange looking gray-colored beetles in our house. Upon searching for their identity, I found they were willow borers — needless to say, they all got sent to the firey furnace. I hope they have all left now and we don’t find anymore of them in the wood.
But just think of it: we were sitting outside in sweatshirts and light jackets having a picnic on Jan. 28! I am not sure I can remember when or if we have ever done that before. I can remember some colder days for picnics in the hills with a campfire and roasting a hot dog, but never this warm. In some ways, I hope the rest of the winter stays just like this, but I don’t expect it and I hope we don’t get winter in April. It is really hard on young stock for it to get cold, wet, and stormy then.
This last week has been such a shock to the system after the cold of two weeks ago, just unpredictable weather. It may be the bane of most of the mid-west, but I think Wyoming and Montana have the rest beat. The warm winter lulled us into being unprepared and, last Sunday, the sewer at the church building in Burlington was froze. Oops. (We didn’t get the straw over the sewer to protect it.) One of the members managed to get it thawed on Monday and we got straw on it, so now it is
But back to Sunday, Jan. 28. One year, it was Super Bowl Sunday. I remember that because it happens to be one of the kids’ birthdays and he chose to have a Super Bowl party at my mom’s. Rick has never been a fan of football, but I always enjoyed watching it with Mom, so that Sunday, Ray and I watched the Super Bowl with Mom while Rick went and cut wood, and hunted rabbits. Everyone had a good day.
But it wasn’t nearly as warm as this Jan. 28 was.
Today’s Recipe: Tomato Soup.

Tomato Soup
4 large ripe tomatoes, about 1¼ pounds
2 Bermuda onions, about 1¾ pounds
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups beef broth
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon hot pepper flakes
½ cup fresh basil leaves
¼ cup parsley finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh pesto (optional)
Core and dice tomatoes into small cubes, leaving skins intact, about 4 cups. Peel onions and chop, about 5 cups. Heat olive oil in large pan and add onions, cooking them until they are clear, but do not brown. Add tomatoes and cook another 10 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat, place your mixture in a food processor, and process until almost smooth. Returning mixture to the original pan, add beef broth, salt, pepper, pepper flakes, basil, and parsley. Return to heat and cook, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes or longer, until done. Serve with fresh toast on the side.