By this time of year in the Rockies we'd normally be nestled in cozy sweaters predicting when our first snow will arrive (almost without fail it is on Halloween leaving us opening our doors to parka-clad Princesses shivering their tiaras off).
We are having hints at fall. Cool mornings, beautiful light, a few leaves appearing on the ground. It IS almost October so after a few mornings of consistent chill we have pulled out our favorite cold weather breakfast ever! Last year on a whim we decided to substitute the water in our hot breakfast cereal instructions for fresh, yummy apple cider. 'OMG'. The complexity of flavor was out of this world. It did not make apple-flavored-hot-cereal as you might think but so much more! It was a totally new dish. You'll never need any sweetener of any kind.
We buy our cider from a favorite fruit farmer from Paonia Colorado, First Fruits. They are a staple of our Farmer's Market and supply fruit into our CSA share as well. The variety and quality of their produce is second to none. They are the source of our Honey Crisp apples mentioned in an earlier post that we over wintered with great success. Do try making cereal this way. You won't go back!
Within three hours of trying to convince ourselves a day starting at these temps could not possibly be subject to the newscaster predictions of highs in the mid 80's to 90's, we were reminded fall has indeed NOT arrived in its typical form.
My dear friend and neighbor Debbie came over for lunch today. Not having much time for exotic preparations I told her we'd be dining from the garden.
In almost-October you'd normally be looking at the frost bitten memories of summer thinking 'I must pull all that stuff out and compost it' NOT 'Let's eat!' After a quick cruise I decided we'd enjoy tomato sandwiches on petite sized Udi's gluten-free white bread (toasted of course), slices of Green Zebra, Nebraska Wedding and Yellow Plum tomatoes, canola mayo (Debbie Doesn't Do Dairy) and an ever so slight sprinkle of Alderwood Smoked Salt (fine grind). Nothing tastes more fabulous and represents the glory of summer more than a homegrown tomato.
I grilled some Twinkle and Fairytale eggplant (ok, YES, I'm a victim of Marketing, totally; who would NOT grow a variety called Twinkle or Fairytale? I half expected Peter Pan to knock on the door during lunch), our only zucchini from a plant I started from planting a seed directly in the ground in mid July ('sinner'; it's unheard of to tempt fate like that in our locality), and some Cipollini onions. Tossed some of our hundreds of cherry tomatoes (all on one bush) with some fresh chopped basil and olive oil/Balsamic vinaigrette.
Maybe it's not so bad to have two totally different seasons in the same day….
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