October 14, 2010

I'm amazed, as I think we all must be, at the rescue of the Chilean miners. This has nothing to do with October, I know, but I think we all need to take a moment and think of how wonderful this October day has been for them. Are we as thankful as we should be for what we have?

I'm thankful I live in a city with an amazing farmers market. Scratch that. SEVERAL amazing farmers markets.

My coworker Chrissy was telling me today about some soup she made from a squash she bought at the market a couple weeks ago. I would like to note that she did not bring me any of this soup.

She went to the market stall of her favorite vegetable wrangler and asked him which squash she should buy. "Which one would you buy?" she asked him. And he sold her something that looked like a pumpkin but wasn't, something he grew and harvested himself.

She took it home and pondered it for a while. Then she cut it in half, sprinkled with with olive oil and sea salt and roasted it.

She scooped it out, simmered it with chicken stock and turmeric and added a little sour cream. "To give it a little tang," she tells me. A little wrist action with the stick blender, some homemade croutons and a scatter of bacon bits and it was done.

Again, she did not bring me any. But she told me it was so good that she couldn't bring herself to throw away the half-cup that was left when she and her husband were done with their dinner.

That's October, friends. The harvest, the comfort of a homemade meal, a little time with a loved one.