I have been really lucky and have had the opportunity to visit and live in some really wonderful places. I have a lot of memories, and a fair amount of Proust madeleine moments especially, apparently, related to autumn.
Last week I made a Cider Braised Pork Butt with Apples, Onions, and Grain Mustard. It was delicious (and I turned the leftovers into amazing baked beans), but mostly it made me very nostalgic for my life in France because of the genesis of the recipe, which I wrote all about in the introduction to the recipe. Feel free to click above and read the details but, long story short, my former family-in-law drove to Epernay every October and brought back cases of Champagne to keep them going in bubbles until the following year. The dish above is a take on what I ate pretty much annually at the restaurant at which we stopped for lunch during our outing.
Pork in Paris led me to memories of “La Fête du Boudin”, attended in Tokyo as an adolescent. A group of French expats would end up in a field on the outskirts of Tokyo one Saturday in October, drinking red wine and quaffing cider, while barbecuing, and then devouring, all parts of the pig -- with an emphasis on the blood sausage of the festival title.
It never felt like autumn in Santa Barbara, but the town definitely hosts the best – hands down – Halloween festivities. Entire neighborhoods come together to decorate their houses, and L.’s trick or treat haul was always pretty impressive while we lived there. One of my friends kindly added me to her inner circle, and each year L. and I were invited to the party hosted by one of Santa Barbara’s preeminent food couples. The husband, a chef, always catered amazing Italian food, the crowd was always fun, and the wife, the company business manager, always had the very best costume, and made the organization of such a huge party look effortless.
Thinking of all of these activities then made me nostalgic for my usual East Coast autumn activities – apple picking, driving to Pennsylvania for pumpkin viewing, weekend trips back to the Cape to see the fall foliage, hot cider at the farmer’s market...Won’t be doing many of those this year.
Still, my mom and I may have created a new Fall tradition, and I certainly have a lovely new memory – we visited the New York Botanical Garden a few days ago and enjoyed their pumpkin exhibit, the many varieties of gorgeous dahlia on display, and a lovely al fresco lunch under the bright blue autumn sky.
This Week's CSA box contained:
Herbs: 3 thin pencils of lemongrass, a bunch of lavender, a bunch of coriander, and a bunch of purple shiso
Greens: a small bunch of dinosaur kale, a huge head of Boston lettuce
Alliums: a large red onion, a small yellow one, and a head of garlic
Vegetables: 2 striped zucchini, a head of broccoli, a punnet of pale green Brussels sprouts, 6 small Heirloom tomatoes in various colors, yet another punnet of Habanero peppers (this time mixed with Cherry Hots), 3 Doré potatoes, a paper bag of Russian banana fingerling potatoes, an enormous Kabocha squash, 2 purple peppers and a red one, a barnacled Baby Knucklehead pumpkin, a bunch of radishes (leaves still attached), 2 orange carrots, and a tiny rutabaga, obviously thrown in as an afterthought just before the box of goodies was closed
Fruit: 4 enormous Lady Alice and 3 egg sized Golden Supreme apples, 2 tiny Hachiya persimmons, and a punnet of Cape gooseberries
Remainders: a small daikon, a leek, 1/3 box of frisée trimmings
So, with the addition of the above remainders and 4 avocadoes, the contents of this week's box (minus most of the fruit on which we will snack) will be transformed into:
Sunday “Pantry Roulette”; fridge, freezer, and pantry item dinner]
Boston Lettuce and Avocado Salad
Roasted Sirloin Cap with Miso-Blue Cheese Sauce
Smoky Lentil and Vegetable Salad
Mulled Wine Poached Apples, Epoisses Cheese and Baguette
Monday [Wildcard; a more complex or fiddly dish than usual to test my culinary skills]
Green Salad
Roasted Broccoli
Steamed Fingerling Potatoes
Tuesday [Pasta]
Tomato Salad with Sesame Dressing
Wednesday [L.'s choice]
Mixed Salad
Miso Chicken Wings
Bulgar Wheat and Vegetable Pilaf with Turmeric
Thursday [Fish]
Carottes Rapées
Herb and Confit Tomato Couscous
Friday [Veggie-centric]
Mixed Salad
Samosa Pie
Saturday ["Picnic"; something that is easy to assemble and easy to eat in front of a movie]
L’s dad is visiting so my usual pre-planning is not the best option
Edited on 10/15/20 - trip cancelled so having dinner with my mom and sister instead
Green Salad
Baked Rice
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