Baby, it's cold outside

After a week of mild weather, the temperature has dipped - it was just 1C this morning. Yes, I know that 1C isn't that cold, but it feels colder here. A friend who lived in Chicago said she never felt as cold as she did here - there's an icy dampness that seeps into every building and your bones. I'm mightily glad that Buster, my adorable Nintendog, doesn't need real walkies outside; as Buster frolicked happily in ever-warm, ever-clean Nintendog world, I sat and watched a chap across the canal wrestle one of his Jack Russell terriers out onto the pavement - s/he really didn't want to go out. (I am slightly concerned that it was only one dog. Normally there are two - I hope the other one's okay.)

But in general, I love the winter. Not the dark mornings and icy roads, so much, but the food, the clothing, and never needing an excuse just to stay in. Summers here aren't all that warm but you're still expected to sit outside on a terrace surrounded by thousands of beered-up cloggies while the icy winds sweep in off the North Sea, carrying clouds of cigarette smoke over your bitterbollen. Not so in winter. I can retreat to my lopsided apartment, turn the oven on full blast, and get baking - and no, that's not a Dutch marijuana metaphor.

Ten things I love about the winter:
1. Soups - sweet potato; carrot and ginger; curried parsnip - although parsnips are hard to come by. Annoyingly (no really!), the Dutch regard the mighty white root as animal feed, knowing nothing of the joy of a parmesan-roasted parsnip.
2. Carbs - pasta bakes, risotto, gnocchi, mashed potato, and lots of bread: rosemary and onion cornbread, focaccia, my easy-to-make wholewheat Italian low bread . . . And the cookies: choc chip, choc choc chip, and current favourite, peanut butter and jelly shortbread - with additional chocolate chips. Mmmm.
3. Sixty denier tights from Hema - no shaving required.
4. Fleece - hats, scarves, gloves, sweaters, jackets, blankets, socks - you name it, I have it in fleece. I don't care if that makes me middle-aged, Trinny & Susannah - it also makes me warm.
5. My new winter coat from Zara. Toasty. And cheap.
6. Our new fake fur throw from Habitat. Also toasty. Not so cheap.
7. Dogs in tartan jackets. In paniers. On the back of bikes.
8. Hot chocolate. Particularly the kind you get in Spain, which is so thick you eat it with a spoon. Or with churros, at 5 in the morning on your way home from the bar. Oh churreria on the Calle Zamora in Salamanca - how do I miss thee!
9. No leaves on the tree outside our apartment, making it much lighter - and easier to spot the cute Jack Russells across the canal. And see people removing their clothes in the apartments facing. Fun.
10. Fewer tourists wandering the streets or ineptly cycling slowly on their MacBikes. Fewer frat boys in the coffee shops or hen parties in the red light district - unless you're from Newcastle, it's not much fun wandering the streets in a glittery miniskirt with an L plate when there's freezing fog outside.

Winter - bring it on!