As soon as the Autumn chill is in the air, I wait for one special day that calls to me and tells me: "Hey, it's time to start cooking." That day finally arrived last weekend on a rainy, chilly day that was just begging to be filled with chopping, cooking, and gratitude.
There is something about harvest time that calls to all creatures, animal as well as humans. In fact, it was by watching the animals that humans learned what to harvest, how to put food away for the winter, and how to reap all the blessings that Mother Nature gave us. For me, as soon as the harvest is in and the baskets in the farmers markets are filled to bursting ... and the pumpkins come out ... my fingers just itch to get started. Our prolonged Indian Summer kept pushing that further and further back until last weekend. I knew as soon as I opened the curtains and the window for a breath of fresh morning air, heard the rain and felt the chill, that my day had finally arrived.
Squash, potatoes, root vegetables. Soup, stew, veggie toppings for pasta, all of it appeared on my cutting board. There is something so therapeutic about chopping vegetables, seeing the colors come to life under my knife and the smells reach out to me. Soups are my absolute favorite things to cook and freeze. An old recipe of my mother's for using up zucchini, tomatoes, and onions to toss with spaghetti is another (no written recipe, just years of sitting at the kitchen table watching her work her magic while I did my homework). An unexpected offering in the market last week of asparagus, a bit late in the season but, what the heck, also ended up on the cutting board to be sauteed with garlic and mushrooms, simmered in a dribble of veggie broth and tossed with penne pasta and sprinkled with cheese. Butternut squash was roasted, boiled, and fried, some ending up in the freezer, some on my plate for dinner. I had to stop when I started having trouble closing the door on my little apartment-sized freezer. My next batch of cooking will have to wait a few weeks, I guess.
I noticed a long time ago that when I am chopping and cooking, I am also smiling. I take long, deep breaths to enjoy the smells coming out of my tiny kitchen. All the drugs in the world can't begin to compare with the feelings of warmth, home, and personal satisfaction I get from this. Mother Nature provided and I reaped the benefits. That's a pretty good partnership if you ask me.
And so it is.
Update in the ongoing turf war I told you about last week: Mama Squirrel got the upper hand this morning by using her little brain ... she brought Dad along! Bigger and faster, he escorted her home with her morning nut from the back yard, followed her inside, and then stood guard when six grackles tried to scare her out. You should have seen those birds scatter when Dad came thrashing out! Score one for the squirrel family!
