Oh Autumn. You are entrancing.

Autumn. I just love you. Leaves of all colors, crisp air, the return of gourds in all manner of colors, shapes and textures. <sigh>

This past weekend, I made three very Autumn inspired dishes to share with friends, and I'm just going to say it: I am a cooking/baking genius. Ok, not really, but dayum - tasty eats y'all. 

We hadn't hung out with our besties in quite a while, due to crazy schedules, so chose to do so Saturday night. It ended up to be a most fortuitous scheduling because Saturday was also the day the brought their new puppy home!!!!! 

B&K had a doggie for 15 wonderful years, who we just adored. A pup of surpassing beauty (really, he was gorgeous), character, personality, and joy and his passing, well, it sucked donkey balls. I still think about Tundra, a lot actually, and sometimes still tear up. He was such an amazing fur friend. 

LOOK AT THAT SWEET FACE!!!!

Clearly, his passing was way more deeply felt by his mom and dad, and they knew they'd find a new fur friend to hang out with them and started putting toes back into the waters in late summer. 

Enter Mesa. She is a shepherd / Norwegian Elk Hound mix and 4-6 months old. Vet can't pinpoint because some ASSHAT dumped her and at least one litter mate in the woods at some point after her birth. What.A.Dick.Move. Anyhoo, she's hit the jackpot this lil pup has. 

But so have they, because so far, she is calm, snuggly, sweet, and very clever, and she has already brightened up their lives, their home, and their faces, which as their long-time friends, makes me really happy. 

Brig & I yakked about menu for dinner, and since I knew they'd be wanting puppy time, offered to bring two things, and they would grill the chicken & steam broccoli. Then came up with an awesome idea for dessert and decided to make it too. (Normally, we get spoiled because they do all the cooking, so I loved doing more!).

I had a pound of locally grown brussel sprouts that I mainly quartered, after removing the harder parts of stems and some of the outer leaves. Tossed them in about 1 T of olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Since Spouse detests brussel sprouts (which means his Brother-From-Another-Mother, Kurt, probably does too), I put the sprouts in a foil packet in case Kurt wanted to throw it on the grill but mainly to cut down on the smell, which Spouse finds so offensive. #Boys

So in this instance, not so much a genius, just a gal with awesome taste in veg. 

Second dish, Brig loves maple syrup. I'm pretty sure I could make a cake from cow pats and so long as they was a shit-ton of maple syrup on and in it, she might just try it - that's how much she loves maple syrup. While I know she's so happy I'm not living in The 'Shire anymore, part of her is secretly sad because I don't have as quick access to Vermont Maple Syrup as I did before - that's how much she loves maple syrup. 

Spouse found a recipe for Maple Butternut Squash, so decided to give that a whirl. Freaking easy and delicious. I could have added a bit more syrup, to be honest, so I will add a skosh more next time. But SkinnyTaste, thank you for the recipe!!

Third dish, and truly the most deserving of my <self-appointed> baking genius moniker: Apple Graham Crumble. 

Here's how it went: had 6 gorgeous organic gala apples and was worried they'd rot before I got to them. Realized I had graham crackers in the pantry. Googled "apples + graham crackers". Found this Food Network recipe. Realized I had everything in the house. BOOM!

It was disgustingly easy to make, smelled heavenly baking and wuff. Tasty doesn't begin to describe it. B&K and Spouse had vanilla ice cream on top of theirs; I refrained, but even without the creaminess, it was awesome. 

Ingredients
6 apples, cored and diced into 1/2" pieces
1/2 of a lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar [I used demerara sugar]
1/2 cup ground graham crackers or flour [I used one package from the Honey Maid box]
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick of butter

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Combine the apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, ground nutmeg and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar in a 9" x 12" baking dish.
3. In a small bowl, mix the ground graham cracker crumbs (or flour), brown sugar, and butter with the tines of a fork, until small, even sized crumbles form.
4. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly on top of the apples. 
5. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown. 
6. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, if you can stand it. 
7. Serve with vanilla ice cream, or ice cream of your favorite Autumnal choice. 

Jen's Hacks
- I used demerara sugar with the apples
- I didn't actually measure the graham cracker amount - just ground up one whole packet but seemed to work well. Used 7/8 of it all. 
- I added 1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder to the apple spices as well. 

Since I was going to put it together at B&K's house, I made the dish like this:
- Cored and chopped the apples and tossed the small pieces in the lemon juice, then put them in a large container to keep in the frig until ready to assemble.
- Mixed the cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ginger powder and demerara sugar together and put into a clean, dry spice jar for traveling.
- Ground up the graham crackers until fine, and added the brown sugar, then put the topping into a baggie to take with me.
- Took the 1/2 cup of butter and just made small dollops, which I put on top of the crumb mixture instead of working it into the crumbs & sugar mix. Seemed to be just fine. 
- Brig suggested adding a sprinkle of quick oats on the top too, so we did that. Added a great texture and flavor!

Assembling was super easy from there and way better to make fresh. 

I thought of a couple of things I'd try next times, like maybe add in some real vanilla extract/bean paste or drizzle maple syrup over it next time. Or honey. I mean, there's a ton of interesting things one could do. Add nuts. Dried fruit. My tummy just growled. 

The thing I love about cooking and baking is, if you are willing to expend the time and ingredients, the most amazing dishes are usually the ones where you just grab stuff and make a dish out of it. 

Have you had a recent cooking or baking adventure?
How'd it turn out?

Last (outside) garden update. #ByeSummer

Garden did ok this year. Central Ohio was truly lucky with a summer than was cooler and less humid than usual. To Spouse and me, it was nearly perfect. I know many were lamenting not having a "real" summer, but it was quite lovely to be able to be outside a bit more and not feel like I couldn't breathe from the high humidity. This white girl just doesn't do humidity (and we got a good fill of it in Florida in June anyways). 

We got "The Blight" on our beefsteaks, which was such a downer as there was so much fruit on each plant (we had one red and one yellow). #SadTomatoesBeingSad

BUT....

Adventures in Juicing.

Man, last week was weird, eh? I needed to marinate on some things, as I suspect many did. Spouse & I were super lucky to have great bookend weekends, connecting with family and it really reset things. I'll write more about the weekends in another post soon. #SillyPeople #Beer #Fun 

Wanted to post the last part of my juicing adventures, which is, um, actual juicing and combinations of juices. 

I am pretty lucky in that I don't have a lot of aversions to fruits and vegetables. I adore brussel spouts, beets and kale. I do still really dislike lima beans but luckily for me, I don't believe they would be a good juicing choice. As far as fruits, my only "dislikes" are grapefruit and mango. I like a hint of grapefruit, and I love the smell of mango but the texture is what really bothers me. 

So juicing as an addition to my menus is pretty easy. The added bonus of it is you can be really creative with your concoctions. I have to say there was only one combo I made that got poured down the drain, and honestly, had I not run out of lemon and lime juices, may very well have been salvageable. #TheMoreYouKnow

A'Juicing We Will Go.

My body has declared war on dairy. I won't go into the specifics because, ewwwww. 

I figured it would be a really sad transition, as I have always joked that right thigh was named Goat Cheese and left thigh was Super Sharp White Cheddar. Also, I adore ice cream. But the whole endeavor hasn't been nearly as painful as I expected it to be. Even Spouse is surprised. 

Garden Update: It's a Jungle Out There.

People. My garden has gone wacko crazy with growth. It's really beyond words. 

Lunches This Week (#16 & 17): Back to Business.

Spouse & I had a family wedding the weekend before this past one, and extended it, to take advantage of being near to other family members.....the Adventure update coming.....needless to say, with all of the travel and re-entry into "Real Life", life was a wee bit bollixed last week. 

Lunches last week were a total hodgepodge, enough that I contemplated just not even bringing it up, but....in the interest of the high quality journalism you've come to expect from this blog. <ahem>

Week #16: The Foraging. And we shall leave it at that, eh? 

This week though - Week #17: Back to Business. 

Garden Update: Holy Growing, Batman!

I don't know about y'all, but my garden is going ape shit. Everything is growing like it's on MiracleGro The Godzilla Version - it's not of course, but still. Spouse was completely correct in suggesting I move everything to the middle-ish of the patio, even though it means pots are sort of in the way of enjoyment of the deck furniture. All of the plants get so much more sun every day! 

Anyhoo, photographic evidence. 

Lunches This Week (#15)

This is going to be a short post. Partially because #DeathByFun - The NYC Edition happened and because #DeathByFun - The Florida Family Wedding Edition is still to come. 

But here goes:

Ennui, and Lunches This Week (#14)

Ennui.
A feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.

Inertia.
The state of being inert; disinclination to move or act. 

I am experiencing states of Ennui and Inertia of late. It sucks. Professionally speaking, these have been my homes for the last few, uh, years, due to leadership changes, etc. I get it, I do. I also get that existentially, "my" job isn't "my" job - it is the position of my employer, and thus, it is up to them what I do, or do not. 

However, at a certain point, no matter how zen, how chipper, how chill with life one is - it gets to you. And this is where I am. 

Mediterranean Deliciousness as My Lunches This Week (#12)

First note: I have the hardest time spelling Mediterranean. Every single time, I over-think it and add in an extra syllable. One would *think* I'd come up with some mental clues as to how to do it, but thanks to the miracle of spell-check, I guess and red squiggly line it to get the correct spelling. #FirstWorldProblems

<clears throat>

This week's lunch was inspired by last Friday's lunch, which was eaten at one of my fave local joints, Mazah Mediterranean Eatery, with a particularly lovely colleague, Meg. I love Mazah and discovered them via another particularly lovely friend, Angela, in 2010. The restaurant recently moved to a slightly larger location, basically around the corner from where it's been since it opened and just YUM. 

The food is fresh, homemade in so very many cases, service is friendly and I'm not only supporting a local business, but a locally owned family business. Total score. 

I will say, the new & larger location is awesome and the food was delicious, but I will say, I think they are experiencing some growing pains. The new location is easily twice the size, and so the service on this visit was pretty slow and not that attentive. It was also lunch, although a bit later than rush, and still busy - everyone seemed to be really busy and a touch flustered. 

Also, if you have a sensitive nose to smells - the tables were all made for the restaurant by one of the owners and stained recently. They are gorgeous, but still off-gassing, so either wait or try to snag one of their sidewalk tables. 

Ok, so my favorite thing to get at Mazah is their vegetarian grape leaves. They are simply delicious - flavorful, tender and just delicious. I don't ever see myself undertaking making them because I just don't think I'd ever be able to do them justice. Plus, with Mazah not terribly far away from home or work, why would I? 

A few weeks' ago, I stopped into Trader Joe's to pick up the two things we only buy from them (as opposed to the many items I always impulse buy there). I had quickly picked up the bag of shredded parmesan cheese, and was headed to get their green chilies, when a few shelves below, I noticed Trader Joe's had vegetarian grape leaves in a tin. 

First, I find it odd to buy entree-like-items in cans. It smacks of Spam or beef stew. Second, MAZAH! But curiosity got the better of me, especially after reading the label and not finding anything horrible in it. 

I'll be honest, I've looked at the tins in my pantry the last few weeks.....but gone past them, due to nervousness. 

I am a 

Connecting story to my canned vegetarian grape leaves: Last week was our bi-monthly (as in every two months, not twice a month) work gathering for my floor. Work hasn't exactly been *challenging* of late, so with full disclosure to my bosses, I've started a group dedicated to fun in the workplace. It's maybe 6-ish people and I email them my hare-brained ideas, they say yay or nay, and we go about making stuff happen. I have titled us the Renegade Fun Group. 

We meet in the communal area on our floor, everyone brings in whatever they want to share, we stand around, chat, make up a reason to be gathering, and generally have a fun time with our colleagues. Last week was our third gathering, and the first with a theme, which was Healthy Snacks. 

Another colleague, Leslie, made and shared a delicious concoction of Greek yogurt, cucumber, avocado, tomato with dill, salt and pepper and garlic powder. She had taken part of the avocado and smashed it into the yogurt so that it was the pretty green color of the avocado meat, then chunked the rest of the avocado, as well as the chopping the cukes and maters. It was pretty scrumptious. 

Put all of this stuff together and you basically have my Lunches This Week. 

Had a small head of Bibb lettuce and a larger head of romaine. After washing and spinning it dry, chopped it up and put 2 cups of the lettuces into 3 lunch containers. 

Cracked open the delectable veggie grape leaves and put 6 on top of each container with the lettuces. 

Took my Homemade Greek Yogurt, and did what Leslie did, only in lieu of maters (The Chez was out), added thinly sliced carrots (after I peeled them o'course). I also added some lemon juice, as well as some of the marinade that was in the tins with the grape leaves. It was scrumptious!!!!

 

For my lunches, I'm taking a 1/2 cup of the yogurt/avocado/cuke/carrot mixture to plop on top of the salad, essentially so there's no other dressing. The total calorie count is 311 calories. 

So freaking tasty!!!

Just had today's lunch and I'm already lamenting that tomorrow will be the last. We need to pop over to Trader Joe's in the next few weeks, so their Dolmas tins are now added to the regularly shopped items list I keep. 

Sorry, long-winded, but STORIES!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - 2 cups lettuces, 6 vegetarian grape leaves, 1/2 cup of avocado yogurt dip + 1 cup of homemade Greek yogurt and 6 oz organic blueberries. 

Thursday - a section of my freezer friendly quinoa/wild rice/spinach/kale casserole + 1 cup of homemade Greek yogurt and 6 oz. organic blueberries.

Friday - a section of my freezer friendly quinoa/wild rice/spinach/kale casserole + 1 cup of homemade Greek yogurt and some sort of fruit from the freezer (kiwi? peaches? strawberries?). I really need to do an inventory this weekend. 

Have you discovered an unexpected food in a tin/can/container of late? 

Share your favorite find!!

Lunches This Week (#11) - Kitchen Sink Stir-Fry

Saturday was all about gallivanting about town, so Sunday was a chillax day at the Chez. Spouse did a butt load of laundry (seriously, I am one.spoiled.lady), and I spent a good deal of it in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning. It was pretty awesome. 

I had gotten my veggie bin on Tuesday, and had customized it so there'd be tasty stuff for a stir-fry. My favorite kind of stir-fry is what I affectionately call, Kitchen Sink Stir-fry, because I basically throw in whatever veg I have in the house, plus chicken (or shrimp) and a tasty sauce. 

Lunch today, at my desk. 

The 2014 Chez Nash Humphrey Garden. On paper, anyways.

I'm pretty pumped about our garden this year. The last two times, I've only done containers on our deck - partially due to the wildlife that sashays through our yard (deer, bunnies, raccoons, skunks, etc.) and partially due to my laziness (out of sight, out of mind). 

My high school has an annual flower sale to raise scholarship money, and in the last few years, they've also offered herbs and veggies, along with flower and decorative plants. I feel it's a good cause, the prices aren't super high, and the plants are generally in good shape. 

This year, I am expanding to multiple tomato plants and also expanding my herbs, so this is what I expect to pick up next week:

Lunches This Week - #10

Man, we had a fast weekend. Good thing I've been cooking ahead, otherwise, lunches this week would cause me much sorrow - and potentially coin. 

Monday - today was a defrosted section of my recent casserole hack, 1 cup of homemade whole milk yogurt with 1 cup organic raspberries, and a Slim Cake, which really hits a sweet spot for me. 

Tuesday - serious splurge, as I'm taking myself either to Chipotle or a local joint called Yabo's Tacos. It'll be a game day decision. 

Wednesday - repeat of Monday, except that I'll use defrosted peaches instead of raspberries in my yogurt.

Thursday - Monday's menu but with strawberries, instead of peaches or raspberries.

Friday - unless I get cooking this week, as in a week night, Monday's menu, but with strawberries again. 

Short post but never forget that:

Have a fabulous week!!!

Lunches The Last Two Weeks - Oops

Bad Yennifer. I have excellent reasons for my tardiness though, I swear! 

Last week, I had an event (honestly, the very best part of my job), so there was the mad rush to get it all together, then the event, then the mad rush to clean up, thank, collate, etc. 

I'm going to gush a bit about it, so bear with me, I will get to the recipes, etc. I promise! There was a luncheon and then also a panel, in which I partnered with The Office of Military and Veterans Services at my university. The events last week were actually the second time in seven months in which we've partnered with them, so I think part of my enjoyment of the planning portion was, we recreated certain elements from an event in September, and with most of the same people on board, there wasn't a lot of rushing before hand. 

Anyhoo, our special guest speaker is one of the most amazing young women I've ever met (and brag, I've met some really incredible young people in my time in Higher Education....). Captain Jenna Grassbaugh is finishing her Juris Doctorate, and will join JAG after she graduates next month. She is also a Captain in the U.S. Army, and sadly, for being so young, a Gold Star wife. 

Here's the kicker: Jenna took the insurance money she received from her husband's death, and started an endowment fund, which provides legal assistance to veterans. They don't have to be affiliated with my university in any way to receive the assistance and/or don't have to be combat veterans - simply have served their country in any possible way, and need help. And the law school here is working to match her original endowment amount. 

WOW. Talk about impact. Talk about a perspective moment.
And holy flarking follow-up: she enjoyed it enough to write about it herself. I.am.speechless.

Recipe Hack: Jen's Lunches This Week (#5)

Quick post because I have event in six days (for work), and need to get back to tweaking a PowerPoint, confirming registrations, etc. Or being awesome, however you wish to phrase it. 

Lunches This Week features a recipe hack to my fave casserole: the Spinach and Feta Casserole with Quinoa and Wild Rice. The hack was essentially a happy accident, as I had received some baby spinach and lacinato kale in my Green B.E.A.N. Delivery veggie bin, which I had wilted together - but realized that it wasn't quite enough for the recipe. 

So....in the interest of ingenuity, and the fact that I had also received a lovely bunch of fine looking asparagus, I supplemented in order to get to the required 2 cups of veggies for the casserole. 

Turned out to be a pretty good hack as it was a great addition, both in texture and in flavor - if I do say so myself. And amuses me greatly that it was a hack of a hack. 

I followed the recipe from November to the letter except for the veggies:
- chopped the spinach and lacinato kale into decent sized pieces, threw it into a pan with a few inches of water, popped on a lid and let is steam until completely wilted through. Drained it, let it cool, then squeezed all of the liquid out. 
- chopped the stalks of asparagus into bite-sized pieces, created a foil packet with about 1/2 cup of water, sealed the packet, placed it on a tray and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. I drained the water and tried a piece, which was perfectly steamed. 

The spinach and kale mounted to about 1.5 cups, so I supplemented the remaining 1/2 cup needed with the asparagus pieces. 

Baked the casserole in a 9" x 9" pan, and it made 7 servings, of which, I threw 1 in the frig and the rest in the freezer. 

Oh I do lie a little - I added a nice healthy squirt of sriracha, because everything is better with sriracha!

Since I didn't use all of the asparagus, I plan to make another casserole (since it is incredibly freezer friendly), and use 1/2 spinach or kale and 1/2 asparagus this weekend. I'm curious how it will effect the density and hold-together factor of the casserole. 

Jen's Lunches This Week #5

Monday: I had one container of the Marcella Hazan's best pasta sauce ever + polenta, so had that with 1 cup of my homemade Greek yogurt and 1 cup of sliced organic strawberries. 

Tuesday: 1 serving of the spinach-kale-asparagus-quinoa-wild rice-feta casserole, 1 cup of homemade Greek yogurt with 1/8 c. of Love Grown Simply Oats Gluten-Free Granola. (We were totally out of fresh fruit, but veggie bin arrived Tuesday afternoon!)

Wednesday: 1 serving of the spinach-kale-asparagus-quinoa-wild rice-feta casserole, 1 cup of homemade Greek yogurt with 1 cup of sliced organic strawberries.

Thursday and Friday: planning same meal as Wednesday, although Friday may be 1 cup of diced organic pear.  

I gotta jam and get back to being Event Planner Extraordinaire. Have a fabulous week, peeps!

Four Burner plus Oven Kinda Weekend.

Jen's Lunches This Week (#4)
I was a cookin' fiend this weekend, folks. Had all four burners plus the oven going yesterday - WOOT!! Apparently to make up for being an über slacker the last two weeks. Felt really good, to be active in the kitchen and making things. It's cheap-ish therapy - for me, anyway. 

Here's a quick list of what occurred in my kitchen between Saturday and Sunday:
- New batch of Greek yogurt, with whole milk.
- Batch of Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce, which I combined with Food Merchants Organic Polenta, for quick and tasty lunches this week. 
- Cooked 1 lb. of lacinato kale and 1/2 lb. baby spinach, cooled it and squeezed all the water out.
- Steamed a bunch of asparagus (as in one bunch, not like so much that I'm generalizing as "a bunch").
- Cooked up 2 cups of red quinoa and 1 1/2 cups of wild rice.

 

The only things I didn't do, but need to to in short order, were prepare a gorgeous head of leaf lettuce for salads; roast 8 large and lovely brussel sprouts; deal with a large head of broccoli. 

Holy Hosting, Batman.

In the last two weeks of the year, the Chez will have hosted 4 gatherings. The smallest a group of 7, the largest a group of <approximately> 36. We love to host gatherings and house guests, and are really lucky to have a home large enough to accommodate both with relative ease. But wuf. 

To date, three gatherings have happened: two were potluck, which was super fun, and by virtue, fairly stress free. The one for my family's holiday gathering was the simplest of them all though. I have a smallish nuclear family, and with Mi Madre living out of state, it was the 5 Nashes + my brother-in-law (Spouse's lil bro), who was visiting from out West, and his sweetie, who arrived on Christmas Eve.

This year, keeping in mind food preferences, and my family, I went with a menu of two soups, a delicious artisan made bread loaf, and butter. 

For the meat eaters, our friend's fantastic Green Chile Chicken Noodle soup and for the vegetarians, a very easy Red Lentil soup, recommended by a friend at work. 

Spouse and his brother hit up the North Market on Christmas Eve Eve Day and bought a fabulous light sourdough loaf from Omega Artisan Baking that turned out to be perfect. Crusty (but not hard) on the outside, and wonderfully chewy and dense (but not too dense) on the inside. Held up super well to the soups, a great companion to the Kerrygold (unsalted) butter we had decided on, and poof, by the end of the dinner, was gone, baby, gone. 

I had previously made the Green Chile Chicken Noodle soup, as Reverend Al swears by it for when one feels icky, but had never made the Red Lentil. Both are simple and really flavorful, esp with hacks. And I have to say, quick to make. 

Happy Accidents in Roasted Veg Lasagna.

Way back in July, when I first began this blog, in my first post even, I promised to post missteps, in addition to posting my successes - knowing eventually I would have a misstep. Guess what? 

I am in that contingent of folk who are gluten-sensitive, meaning I can eat gluten, but sparingly. I'm always experimenting with ways to cut the gluten out, but without making me feel like I'm missing something. 

With an over-abundance of squash and zucchini in this summer's market bag, I began to experiment with using the squash in recipes and one that has worked well, in a few iterations, is Roasted Veg Lasagna. 

Roasting veggies is basically the easiest thing on the planet. And the right combo of veg leads to a great pasta substitute. 

Back into the Groove.

The last few weeks have been a lovely return to our pre-trip groove, and while it might seem boring, it's honestly nice. The return to the groove has coincided with a flurry of house guests, which we love. So there is the practical side (gotta get the house mostly clean, change sheets, wash towels, etc.) and the zen part of cooking and baking. 

The trick with an extended trip is I didn't want to leave a lot in the frig or kitchen, since there wouldn't be a lot being eaten or made. And it bugs me to have food go bad. 

Then, since I like to eat fresh and whatnot, takes some time to get the larder back up. I have made some really yummy items which I'll be including soon: vegetable melange with polenta (aka using up all the random veggies in the frig); shrimp and veg spicy stir-fry; zucchini feta pie; squash/eggplant lasagna. And all just in time for casserole weather too! WOOT!

Also have some veggies at home that need roasting so I can keep up the experimentation .....but first:

Spinach and Feta Casserole with Brown Rice and Parmesan

(Makes 6-8 servings; recipe inspired by one found in The Big Book of Casseroles, with quite a few healthy changes by Kalyn.)

I.Love.Autumn.

I adore autumn. Between it and Spring is nano-points. Between it and winter is 10 points. Between it and summer is 50 points, unless the summer turns out to *not* be hazy, hot and hellish, then we'll say, just 20 points. 

Autumn features my favorite color palette: burnished reds, deep oranges, blazing golds, flashes of bright green (generally when and where you least expect it) and all fading into rusted reds, deep browns and golds that make you want to drown in them. 

Autumn is also the season when I married Spouse, first moved to The 'Shire, and have met many of my oldest and dearest friends. 

Autumn is also my favorite FOOD season. Being that apples seem to come to the height of crispness, gourds of all varieties are everywhere (PUMPKIN, WHAT?), and soups are in vogue yet again (I've never mastered being able to eat soup in summer. It's just not right.). 

It seems odd to me, since I've been writing so infrequently of late, to skip the latter portion of summer [one more beer fest, garden updates, etc.] but today I made butternut squash soup. It rained. Football dominated my television viewing. It was just really autumn......

Oh and Spouse & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary yesterday but y'know, minor details. [It was awesome].