Aside from opening the fridge to pour iced coffees and fruit juice spritzers, the only thing the Baltimore kitchen is making is ice until this streak of crippling temps passes us by.

Meanwhile, the garden seems to be holding up remarkably well with just a nightly watering. This morning, in that magical hour before the sun starts baking the earth to a pastry crisp again, I took a little stroll around the yard to check on what was still managing to grow in spite of the weather.