The wonderful Winter Olympics may be over, but winter isn’t! We were away for five days at the end of February, hoping that by the time we returned, there would be no more snowstorms. Wrong! So the feature photo below is not one of the flowers I took on my trip (see the last photo), but rather, a snowman made by our night doorman outside the lobby. BUT, he is wearing a Phillies baseball cap, which tells me Spring Training is coming soon!

While weather is the main topic of discussion at the beginning of every phone call I make to family, there are other events in March to look forward to.  First, I plan to go to a celebration of Women’s International Day, which is March 8th. My alumnae organization is having a program at The New York Historical Society on March 6th, and if there is no storm (Ooops! there are the weather words again), I plan to go with my camera and notebook. The picture below is from the website of the NY Historical Society. They are featuring bird walks in the Spring in NYC.

Even if there is snow in the ground, March 17th will still be St. Patrick’s Day, when everyone can be Irish. Last March, I featured a kale recipe with this photo. The vase is wrapped with a scarf I bought several years ago in Florida, along with one in red and white for Valentine’s Day. I use each only one week of the year, but they work for that “Valentine’s Week” in February and “St. Patrick’s” Week in March.

I hope to feature some other leafy, green vegetables this month, such as collards, chard, and spinach.

Speaking of recipes, I attended an Israeli vegetarian cooking class (perfect for me!) at the end of January and took some photos. I hope to post at least one of the recipes from that fun class. The instructor, Devorah, was quick with her hands and created several delicious dishes with our help in chopping veggies. Here is Devorah making one of her recipes.

Since March is generally cold, although maybe not bitter, soups will still receive top billing in my kitchen. I meant to post this new-to-me soup recipe that my sister-in-law Carol made when we visited Carol and my brother in Rhode Island at the end of January, but forgot, so it will be my first recipe in Kitchen Nutrition this month. I call it Carol’s Comfort Soup. This is just the photo, so stay tuned for the recipe later in the week…

March also completes four years of Menupause and the beginning of my 5th of year posting. Not such a big deal compared with International Women’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day, but in my world it is a milestone, since I never thought I would still be loving this.

If you are new to Menupause, you might want to click on  the Welcome link for “historical” background on Menupause. I will probably add something about the 5th anniversary, too. Also, I started a blog last year called www.divorce-dayz.info for those of you who have or are experiencing a midlife divorce. Different information is posted, although sometimes I post a book review or special article on both sites.

Regarding a book review, I haven’t yet decided what health-oriented book to review, but I can pass along a wonderful novel that I read while on vacation. My sister-in-law gave to to me when we visited, so I not only came home with a great soup recipe, but also a marvelous novel. It is called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Filling Society and takes place on the Island of Guernsey (off the coast of England) at the end of WWII. It’s historical fiction that will have you smiling and crying at the same time. It is a love story, a war story, a literary story all done in letter (epistolary) form.  The novel was written and almost finished by Mary Ann Shaffer. Sadly, she died before the manuscript was completed, so her niece, Annie Barrows completed it. I read it on the beach in one day, because I could not put it down! Thanks & thanks, Carol. (I heard it might be a movie, which I would run to see.)

Finally, I plan to attend the Philadelphia Flower Show this week and take pictures to post during this month and next, but for now I am posting a photo I took while in Cancun for five days at the end of February. We didn’t have summer weather, more like Spring, but walking without boots, gloves, and hats was wonderful. Here’s a whiff of Spring! Or maybe the quote by Percy Blysshe Shelley, English poet (1792 – 1822), fits better: “If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” We can only hope…..

I woke up this morning to another snowy landscape. It is quite pretty before the snow turns brown, so here’s an early morning picture, still with virgin snow:

Since February is a short month, already shorter since it is now February 3rd, and we are going away in the middle of the month for five days (computer diet!), I am not sure how many articles I will post this month. But, I already have some pieces half-baked. Here they are:

February is Heart Healthy Month, so I plan to post some information on legumes, since legumes are good for lowering cholesterol, which is only one indicator of a healthy heart, and I am not sure actually how low cholesterol needs to be to be considered healthy. So much controversy about cholesterol, in general, but legumes are good food, in any case.  Here is a dish I plan to make for a legume class I will be giving at MANNA with nutritionist Cyndi Dinger. I call it Green Soybean Succotash, using delicious edamame beans, which you may like better than lima beans. Recipe will be in the next posting. The picture is just a tease. Besides, I haven’t put it in the computer yet!

Since JOY is my theme for 2010, I thought I would post my interview with Danièle Thomas Easton, who I sat next to when I saw Leslie Caron in person at the Philadelphia Public Library in December. Danièle does volunteer work with a passion, which brings her joy.  And that’s also good for the heart!  Here’s a snapshot I took when we had a delicious lunch/interview at Chez Colette, the restaurant at the French restaurant Sofitel in Center City. Très bon! (That’s the extent of my French, compliments of my husband.)

♥ Valentine’s Day, another reason to wear red, is the middle of the month.♥ Since I met my (second) husband Alan the week of Valentine’s Day in 2003, I especially love this day, because there were 13 years of nobody special to share this day.  However, during this time, I began to follow Eve Ensler’s V-Day events, since I had been a narrator for The Vagina Monolgues in 2oo1. I will post some of the information on V-Day later this month. I may also review a book called The Art of Hugging by William Cane, author of The Art of Kissing. (Hmmm, maybe I should read that one, too!)

Oops! I forgot one of the Leftovers from January. When I posted a Spaghetti Squash recipe last month, one of my regular readers sent this in: “I like to keep the seeds from a spaghetti squash; wash them, then coat lightly with a bit of olive oil (or other good oil) and roast at 300 until lightly browned—-add salt or other spice if desired. They are a yummy snack or garnish.”  Mary is an avid gardener, so her advice is worth looking into, especially because I did not bake  my seeds her way and they came out too dry.

For my Special Report, I hope to do some investigating on FATS, since they seem to be discussed a great deal when discussing heart disease. Good fats, bad fats, trans fats, hydrogenated fats, etc. Maybe In will just define them so we know what they are when we read them in an article. ♥

Sorry, there were no photos of a woman’s body! Actually, early tests were done only on men, which is why women and heart disease took so long to show up in research.

Also, since Valentine’s Day usually means sweets, I may also do a Health Flash on the different kinds of sweeteners, since there is a lot of information out there that could be confusing. Maybe I will just confuse you more, or maybe I can provide food for thought. Instead of candy, maybe heart candles will do the trick to light up your month!

♥ Remember, whatever the winter weather, cold or rainy, you can always find warmth with friends and loved ones! ♥