Fall Equinox

It is the first day of Autumn. I'm sitting in the kitchen of course. The kettle is simmering. Of course. I am peeking out of the back window, looking at the deck. The garden is looking wild, absolutely wild. All the most brazen weeds have staked their claim in our pots, lots of tall stalks with full seed heads. The seed heads look drowsy, drugged out on the haze of the day maybe; they are slumped over heavily. But we don't discriminate against drunken weeds in this garden; we water all comers. The word must of got out, it must have been carried on the wind and everybody, cultivated or not, is having a hey (hay!) day out there.

I love fall. It might be my favorite time of year. Maybe I love it so much because I was such a nerd when I was a kid and loved going back to school. Every year I would get excited because I was getting a chance to start over and I knew that I was going to learn so much. Nerd. I also love the way the air and the light feel--anticipatory, tremulous, expectant. It feels like nature is about to jump into a freezing cold swimming pool. I like to stand in the street and just feel summer surrendering, the breeze moving through changing leaves. The leaves in response changing their timbre; the actual pitch of the rustle them make gets a little higher pitched, a little thinner. The song of the world changes. A new song is coming. Fall.

My fall this year, part of my falling, my surrender, is to take the lid off the bone pot. When people come to this blog with their bowls I'll be glad. The pot is always simmering. What's in the pot? The Bountiful bone pot is filled with words. If you stir it you'll find stories, songs, recipes, incantations, prayers, letters, opinions and more words. Enjoy. I will add salt and sugar and my own secret sauce.

Okay, let's start with a recipe:

I made this last night to celebrate the days of awe. This would definitely be listed as one of my Shalom Y'all recipes, my own Jewish soul food. I call it Claire's Kugel because it is inspired by my mother-in-law's kugel. She passed away a few years ago and we haven't had a scrap of rice kugle since. So, I tried my hand at it.

Claire's Kugel

ingredients (I don't really measure, amounts are approximate)

one small container of leftover white rice from Chinese food
2 eggs
1/2 cups of honey
2 tbsp brown sugar
2tbsp lavender sugar
1/2 cup of milk, soy milk, oat milk or other dairy sub
(I used hemp milk to avoid dairy...trying to keep it Kosher!)
1/2 c or so of dried cherries
a cap full of almond extract
2-4 tablespoons of melted butter
dashes of cinnamon, salt and cardamon

*mix eggs, sugar and dairy-esque ingredient into a mixing bowl, whip them up real good
*break up the rice into the eggy mix
* stir that up well, add in the cherries, spices, almond extract and finally the butter
*put the whole thing into a small, greased dish
* bake uncovered until brown (45 min- one hour)

Yummy, gluten and dairy free comfort food! Tastes like love.