Happy Friday all! Oooh, and Friday the 13th as well!
The color show remains stellar here, although it is, in increasing volume, on the ground as well. All those fallen leaves bring out the little kids in us, shuffling through them, kicking them high. The ginkgos have colored up, one of the nicest yellows around. They can drop all their leaves in a single day, carpeting the ground with their beauty. I'm developing an increasing fondness for Japanese maples, all these many varieties of them. Oh, the colors they turn! One day this past week the sky was blue and a totally yellow ginkgo and clear red maple were together in a front yard. Ah, picture perfect beauty. Some of the cut-leaf varieties bring to mind Cousin It, only in red, sometimes cascading down slopes. I seriously need an arboretum fix, but alas, that must continue to wait.
We did some stocking up this week. Picked up an order at the Indian grocery, so now the spice box is re-filled, as are the dals. Picked up a slew of locally grown dried beans and unusual winter squash varieties at a farm, supporting local agriculture. The sky was full of many, many large flocks of waterfowl winging southward, although they were too distant to identify. In the rural areas most trees were already bare, lacking the heat island effect of the city.
I wanted to try a version of this recipe this week, although it needs more veggies.
https://www.straightupfood.com/blog/201 ... rnut-soup/ And naturally, as he's wont to do, my husband wants to do it in the Instant Pot, so I guess he'll be doing the cooking that day. I proposed a squash of the week kind of thing, echoing a long-lost new recipe of the week tradition we once had. Guess that means some more new recipes, as many of these squashes are totally unfamiliar. Meh, good for the brain, the research! But then, the entire forecast is for rain, so there's plenty of time.
Erin: The quinoa chili recipe is posted. I'm a bit confused, as I thought our mutual border was closed in both directions. You can't drive across the border southbound, but you could fly??? And then you have to return home in the spring, crossing in the other direction? Huh? Oh, and in addition to accommodations, you'd also have to rent a car, yes?
Lindsey: You're welcome. No on the sweaters, I've not worn one since the first hot flash hit more than 20 years ago. I have to make some time to look at flannel shirts, something I've always favored. Layers, always layers. I'm so accustomed to having limited space for clothing, with the options needing to be coordinated for layering, that the idea that I can have more is so foreign. Like another pair of jeans, I only have two, one of which is heavier. I do need to find some new leg warmers, as the elastic on the one ancient pair I own seems to be rather shot.
Do I can? Well, that one is a funny story. Ages ago I got it in my head to learn to do so, and chose jams/preserves/jelly to start. One of those little packages of pectin product was good for seven pints. Okay, so I bought all the supplies and set about doing so, each fruit in its season from farmers markets, pick your own, and our own yard. Strawberry, red raspberry, black raspberry, blueberry, peach, pear (we had a tree), and concord grape (which is seriously unnerving with respect to dying your entire kitchen and yourself). Now, if you do the math, well, that's 49 pints. For a household of two people. Not even any kids to use lots for pb&j. What on earth were we thinking? Yes, I gave some away, but still! I never got past the fear of botulism in home canned tomatoes to try that one, although I certainly had enough tomatoes. Most of those supplies didn't make the cut when we downsized into the RV, of course. Freezing stuff, that was a whole other story, as we had a full sized upright freezer and a Sears scratch and dent sale fridge in the basement, in addition to the normal one in the kitchen. I filled it between late June/early July and the end of the growing season. Never had to buy frozen fruits.