The Autumn Table

Autumn is well and truly here. Last weekend I worked at pulling up some of my vegetable garden - the green beans and squashes, and a large bowl of carrots. We covered the tomatoes with plastic sheeting to prevent them from splitting in the rain. I noticed several more young zucchini forming and left the plants, hoping the zucchini would grow a bit more. That was a mistake. When I went out yesterday, I noticed they are rotting. It's gotten too cool and wet. 

Fall vegetables are growing nicely - Kale and Swiss Chard, along with Broccoli. I cut some of the kale and chard and we enjoyed them this week. 

On the weekend, I like to do some cooking in preparation for the week. Recently, I cubed a few of the smaller butternut squashes, washed and chopped the kale and chard, trimmed and cut the last of the green beans, and made a batch of carrot ginger soup with coconut milk. 

While surfing the web for ideas for apple recipes, I came across Invisible Apple Cake a few times. It's a bit of a misnomer, for it's barely a cake, being mostly thinly sliced apples baked with a bit of batter. It's quite good, if you get your head around it not being a cake. I played with the recipe and came up with my own that is not very sweet at all, and uses almond flour in place of white flour. I've been eating a wedge of it for breakfast, topped with plain yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It does look like a piece of pie and whipped cream in the photo. Here's a link to my version of Invisible Apple Cake. 

And here we are, almost to the end of another week, and almost the end of September. Rain alternates with sun. I wear a sweater in the morning and regret it in the afternoon. En route to school I have my seat heater on. On the way home, it's the air conditioner. The dahlias in the garden continue to delight me with bloom after bloom. A few chive blossoms add some colour to the herb garden. Hydrangeas mellow to rich burgundy or pale green or pink, depending on their location in the garden. Cups of tea are made more frequently. The window that was opened wide during the night is now open just an inch or two. Last night I awoke to the sound of wind curling around the corner of the house, pulled up the blanket around my shoulders, and I thought, "yes, it's autumn."