Braised chicken thighs with tomato and garlic

I love long, drawn-out recipes. I love the anticipation of a pork shoulder roasting in the oven for ragu or a beef stew simmering on the stove. So, not surprisingly, one of the other things I love about winter is how my cooking changes.

Don’t get me wrong — all the beautiful produce that’s available in spring and summer is pretty tempting.  I could never pass up a juicy mango or a perfectly-ripe tomato.

Lemon blueberry yogurt cake

Happy New Year! You know what that means: winter is coming!! In SF, that mostly means rain. In Nigeria, where I just was, that means Harmattan, which is when Saharan sand blows towards sub-Saharan Africa, causing reduced visibility and “cold” weather (i.e. 70 degrees).

Back when I was in Boston, winter meant endless snow. Which I hated. The one part of winter I did look forward to, though, was citrus season.