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].

What's good for Gilgamesh, Pliny the Elder and Charlamagne is good enough for me.

I'm a woman of a certain age, which I can clarify by saying, at this point in my life, the list of fruits and veggies I do *not* like is a lot shorter than the list of fruits and veggies I *do* like. 

When I was a younger lass, I really didn't like cucumber much. The texture is strange, I find it difficult to describe the flavor using words and they are rather watery. 

But as a slightly older lass now, I appreciate all that it brings to the table with it's delicate and subtle flavors and freshness. 

And yet, I still run out of ideas when it comes to the bounty that is the many cylindrical presents in my farm bag shares and gifts from the delightfully verdant gardens of my friends & colleagues. 

So there is Tzatziki. 

Veggies, veggies and more veggies.

There is something to be said for a weekly market bag and bi-weekly veggie bin from local folks. Mainly that it takes a lot of time to process said veggies. Phew! The avenue of crazy veggie and fruit time has intersected with avenue of crazy work time and thus, Tired Jen is tired at the end of her day. 

Spouse has about had it with my stocking the freezer as at this point, to get to anything, requires an archaeological expedition and/or a degree in engineering so that you aren't avalanched by frozen cherries or corn. 

To not feel like a complete slacker, I'll post my new favorite method for fresh green beans. Found a recipe for garlic green beans, which I "hacked" by using olive oil instead of butter. I probably also added extra garlic because that's how I roll. 

It's a great and also a really, super, easy peasy way to process a bunch of green beans. 

A weekend at home means cooking. WOOT!

For the past two weekends, we've been gallivanting about - drinking micro-brews, visiting with old friends, meeting new friends, and jamming out to some seriously awesome music. Posts to come on all the fun we've had. 

Needless to say, zilcho has gotten accomplished on the home front - although Spouse was Master Launderer on one of his vacation days, so at least we have clean knickers, eh?

We have a local farmer, who stops by my workplace, once a week in August to sell his homegrown beefsteak tomatoes and melons. It's a total bargain for homegrown 'maters: 3 for $1 American dollar. I picked up 6 nice looking ones today. No melons because I'm the only one that will eat them and I'm expecting good stuff in my CSA bag tomorrow. 

Farmer Dave 'maters - yummmmmeeeeeee

On the to-cook list this weekend:

• Roasted tomatoes from the cherry ones I'll get in my CSA bag tomorrow
• Tomato sauce from the 6 Farmer Dave tomatoes I just bought (+ herbs from my garden)
• For lunch next week: wild rice, quinoa & spinach casserole (recipe coming soon)
• Yogurt - my Green Bean Delivery every two weeks includes 2 half gallons of Hartzler's Dairy Milk
• Tzatziki because my CSA bag will have cukes in it
• If I'm feeling super cuckoo, maybe homemade pita (from Frugal By Choice, Cheap by Necessity)

We'll see how far I actually get as this is a fairly ambitious list and we do have social engagements and all. I also need to spend some time with my baby garden. It hasn't rained much this week and I'm sure all my plants are thirsty. Reason #2 why I'm really a horrible gardener. Owel.

Are you thinking about your plans for the weekend? 

Any cooking or baking in store?

What to do with a LOT of fresh tomatoes.

I work for (and matriculated from) a large public university in the Midwest. It's very proud of the THE in its name and worships a poisonous nut. But is also large enough (both in terms of geographical acreage and students/employees) that is does a great job of leveraging its size for the good of its students and employees. 

One of the many benefits available to me as a staff member is easy access to a Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) program. There are actually three CSAs to choose from: fruits and veggies, meats and/or dairy. At this point, I participate in just the fruit and veggie program, which is once a week delivery for 24 weeks, basically from May to October. 

Since my household is just me and The Spouse, I get the small bag which generally has about 5-6 types of items - but no choice as to what. That's cool - so far it's all been stuff I know. Just one week we got a kohlrabi. That was interesting.