sunrise yesterday (no filter)
Just when I had comfortably settled into extending my Summer for another few weeks, along came yesterday’s weather here in what is called northern New Jersey. We are neither part of New England nor of the mid-Atlantic – we’re sort of part of the New York Metropolitan Area, which really isn’t a climatic region…….
After the stellar day on Saturday, when I pronounced at least 100 times to anyone who would listen, that if every day could be like “this”, I’d be ecstatic, things turned decidedly Autumnal on Sunday and definitely yesterday. While the sunrise here was quite remarkable, the day transgressed into something downright unsettling – at least for me. Yikes, I kept saying to myself, was my little plan of pretending that it was still Summer (which it is, um, technically-speaking) not going to work?
I had patently ignored any little signs of the approaching season – like the sycamores dropping leaves, and squeezed out any thoughts of beef stews or butternut squash gratins. I stayed right where I wanted to be while making my Sunday dinner of bbq’d ribs and peach tart.
I spent at least part of the day yesterday donning a sweater, the need for which I actually found slightly irritating, and then taking it off when and if the sun peaked out from the coagulation of clouds. This set me off to muttering to myself – never a good sign. No, not yet, please, was floating in my mind. I reflected for a bit on how nice the Summer had actually been – lots of sunny warm days and very little rain and gloom – something I had easily grown accustomed to. Somehow, I had lulled myself into thinking it wasn’t going to change…… Then, around 6pm I headed to the grocery store and, from the vantage point of that parking lot, I took in a wide swath of things. I ran into someone I knew there and we exchanged, “Jeez, it’s kind of Fall-like.” and “I need one more month!” Ha!
You know things are going south when you dress for bed. When you don a pair of comfy yoga pants instead of those 10 year old grey cotton Nike gym shorts as pjs, you have to accept that Mother Nature is beginning her forceful pull, otherwise known as that vast sucking sound of Summer being transferred to the other side of the equator……Oh, dear – just in the blink of an eye, an awful lot had changed! Last week it was still quite warm in the evenings!
Well, you get the picture and, try as I might to fight off the feelings of impending doom, I will try to focus instead on all of the great things I can cook, bake and eat in the next 6-8 months.
It all came together (or apart) for me this morning when I came upon a post by the New York Times for Pumpkin Cornbread. I had been sharing pumpkin recipes with my brother-in-law for a few weeks now, not surprisingly saying to myself, “I’m not in that camp yet” and as he lives in Florida and isn’t yet experiencing those seasonal change tremors, he’s perhaps in a better place than I – being nostalgic for Fall. How interesting that I believed if I “sent” them onto him, their effects would be non-existent in my world. Ahhhh, how powerful self-deception is. (I’m chuckling at my false security here.) Of course, I have an extreme weakness for cornbread and muffins anyway (I have been known to substitute them for entire meals) and so this one immediately drew me in. I was quite thoroughly tempted and I let my mind wander, pausing to consider a day of baking and eating the afternoon away…….
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013364-pumpkin-cornbread
Well, I will definitely be making this recipe and very soon. But, for today, I’ve got something else on my mind – a foray into Wild Rice Porridge.
Inspired by a bowl that my husband had on Sunday in a local restaurant, I decided to experiment for my breakfast today. Here is the outcome. This is a great diversion from the usual breakfast choices and presents an opportunity to play around a lot. Try it and see!
WILD RICE PORRIDGE WITH CHERRIES, HAZELNUTS AND ALMONDS – adapted from Chowhound.com
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tblsp honey – orange blossom if possible
pinch of salt
1/3 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 tsp orange zest
pinch of cinnamon
4 grates of fresh nutmeg
a scant drizzle of dark maple syrup
Cook the wild rice according to package directions. Drain off any remaining liquid and return to the saucepan. Add the cream, cherries, nuts, salt, zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and honey. Cook over low heat for 7 minutes or until the cream evaporates/is absorbed. Spoon a serving into your breakfast bowl and drizzle your best maple syrup over. While you can dress this with a pat of butter too, you can easily make this a vegan dish by subbing in almond milk.
of course you can omit if you’d like or sub in some orange juice or cider
Try this and experiment with your own add-ins! Enjoy!
I suppose that if I can get into the kitchen and experiment freely on all the days that I can, I will be able to generate enough fodder to keep me otherwise occupied. This, at least is a good start.
Happy Last Day of Summer! Now, there’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one!
