It has been pretty cold outside and, for that matter, inside my condo.

I keep my thermostat at 60 degrees, until friends are coming for dinner (which doesn’t happen these days because of the pandemic) or coming to watch the UConn women play basketball (my neighbors don’t have SNY). When they visit, I turn the heat to 65. They wear their puffy jackets and I offer them down throws.

But to be honest, it has been cold enough that I often turn the heat to 65 during the day. Sometimes I forget to turn it back down at night. By the time I am in bed under my electric blanket and my down comforter, I boil. So, often, I have to go back downstairs and turn the thermostat down. I know, I can get a smart thermostat that does this for me, but I keep saying, “yeah, just another two or three months and it will be warm again.” Also, I am mechanically inept and I don’t know how to put in a new thermostat.

What I do these days to keep myself just warm enough is with food. I make stews and soups and I roast a big chicken every couple of weeks. This recipe below is from a magazine I had been hoarding for a few months because its cover promised “Time for Soup!” I love lemon soup and this reminded me how much I miss St. Sophia’s Greek Festival in New London. There I always begin with its lemon soup, choose pastitsio for my entrée and finish with a piece of baklava. I have made baklava myself and maybe I should try pastitsio, too. In the meantime, here is a great recipe for the soup.

Greek Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

From Food magazine, October, 2020

Serves 4

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

½ cup orzo

1 large egg plus 2 egg yolks

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1½ lemons)

1¾ cups shredded rotisserie chicken (skin removed)

1¾ cups frozen peas and carrots

Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add orzo and cook 2 minutes less than the label directs.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg, yolks, ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk in the lemon juice. Reduce heat under the orzo to low, scoop out 1 cup broth with a ladle and pour it into the egg mixture in a steady stream, whisking with the other hand. Then pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining broth and orzo in a steady stream, whisking constantly.

Stir the chicken into the soup, increase the heat to medium and bring it to a gentle simmer, stirring often, Cook stirring, until the soup thickens slightly, about 4 minutes. Stir in the peas and carrots and warm through.

Cook’s Tip: You need to warm up (or temper) your eggs before you add them to the broth or else you’ll get scrambled egg soup! Whisk the eggs with a little hot broth first, then slowly whisk them into the soup.

On the Side

Feeding myself and my friends, family, pets and neighbors is important to me, but I feed my outside critters, too. Today I just have one cat, but there have been dogs, ferrets, a snake and wildlife, too. I even used to feed deer, although the last forced my husband to build a six-foot fence around our vegetable garden.

I have always fed birds, but critters need water, too, and they can't hydrate with ice. After buying ceramic bird baths that break and heaters that stop working after one year, and being unable to get another in December, I finally ordered a heated one via Amazon. It was inexpensive, the cord can be taken out when the weather isn't cold, it arrived in three days, and it looks nice, too. Consider getting one for your feathered friends.

Gesail All-Seasons Heated Birdbath

About $55 with free shipping via Amazon

Lee White lives in Groton. She can be reached at leeawhite@aol.com.