Snow keeps falling in dribs and drabs, leisurely, modestly, under burgeoning snow clouds making themselves right at home for the duration of the winter, soon to officially arrive. Our house, so dependent on sun beaming through our large windows in the winter, has been cold these heavily overcast days. Necessitating the daily use of our fireplace which performs several functions; a) the sensation of cozy security, and b) warming up the first floor of the house, very little of which makes its way to the second floor.

On the positive side, daytime highs haven't percolated their way much above -5, preferring to linger at around -2, so no complaints there. But the thing of it is, the temperature doesn't tell the whole story. Yesterday's high of -2 came with insistent, steady and icy winds so of course it seemed much colder. It meant, as well, bundling up. Both we and our two little dogs.

At that temperature Jackie and Jillie shouldn't need boots. On the other hand, in the presence of fresh new snow and that kind of temperature what happens is that the snow tends to clump into the pads of their little paws, and as they trot along the clumps become harder and icier, creating discomfort for them. So, next time around, we told ourselves, with these conditions it'll be boots-on, no question.

I had decided earlier in the day to get ahead of dinner, before heading out for our regular trek through the forest trails with Jackie and Jillie. It's the kind of meal that can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated. I'd bought some old-fashioned cottage cheese, the type that is dry and pressed, and thought I'd make some traditional blintzes with it. Also called blini, also known as crepes. They're effortlessly easy to make.

I mixed a half-cup of all-purpose flour with 1/4 tsp.salt, two large eggs and a half-cup milk, mixing it all together to a smooth paste. Then I heated a heavy-bottomed frying pan, melted a good pat of butter, poured the butter into a deep bowl, and began cooking the blini using a small amount of butter in the pan for each. I poured about one-sixth of the batter six times into the pan,watching as each successive 'pancake' browned lightly on the bottom and became dry on top, flipping each one, fried side up on a clean cloth, until all six were done.

Then I took one-and-half cups of the cheese, plopped it into the bowl, added a quarter-cup of granulated sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon and an egg yolk, and mixed it all together with the butter that was already there. When it was well integrated I spooned out equal portions onto each of the crepes and folded each in half. Then I arranged them all on a platter, covered it with Saran wrap and refrigerated the batch until dinner time when each would be fried in butter and then flipped to the opposite side, to be served with sour cream. That, a vegetable salad and a pineapple I'd just cup up would be our dinner.

And then I felt free to do other things. Jillie admonished me with a look that conveyed the sentiment she was less than impressed with my industry, wasting time doing such foolish things when we should be out in the snowy ravine scouting out the forest trails. I thanked her for her patience and we began our preparations to leave the house for the great out-of-doors.

The wind hadn't managed to dislodge all the snow sticking to the boughs of trees, even while more kept coming down at a slow pace. The icy wind lashed us mercilessly, but we were well prepared. Jackie and Jillie seem to believe that there's gold hidden beneath the layer of snow that settled over the autumn leaf mass on the forest floor, and they were determined to uncover it. Their idea of 'gold' doesn't quite resonate with our own lack of appreciation for impolite substances left behind by other dogs, however, and we do our best to discourage them.

When Jackie does some of his frantic run-abouts he often stops briefly facing us, crouches expectantly and challenges us to run along with him, chase after him, offer a bit of an exciting tussle opportunity, or just clap hands to encourage him to close the gap between himself and us so that when he reaches us, he leaps in a frenzy of joy at us, to be rewarded with praise and a good rub-up.