Our long, long autumn

This fall we’ve made several expeditions, one to Maine with Bud’s siblings and four of our grown children. My sister-in-law, Mimi Shark, organized a great week of walks, food and good conversation. Our gang of nine stayed at an old-fashioned resort on Sebasco Bay where we hiked to broad beaches through woods just beginning to change color.

We ate lots of fish and lobster, once at Five Islands where we ate lobster rolls in the sunshine and watched lobster men haul in boxes of the crustaceans. In Portland we had delicious meals at inventive restaurants like Eventide, Scales, and Isa, and walked along beaches to see lighthouses and preening cormorants.

In late September Kara Maria came to the studio to make a new lithograph with Evan and Bud. She always comes with a smile and a gift of fancy chocolates. I enjoyed her company and adapting my cooking for her needs. We ate lots of veggies, fish and chicken. I learn so much about food and making art from our artist friends.  I must admit though that we pigged out a bit on carbs when she left.

After Bud and Evan finished the editioning of Kara’s lovely new print it was time for a jaunt to Paonia on the Western Slope. The drive west is always a treat. There were spots where aspen groves still wore their golden garb. That color. What is it that stirs me so? Along the river valleys and creeks, cottonwoods glowed with yellow leaves. I thought we’d missed this pageant and indeed, a lot of the aspen stood naked. The white trunks had something of the beauty of the golden-leaved ones – stirring in a different way. The vast bare groves on Kebler Pass road, silvery white in the sunlight, so aloof, so majestic.

We spent two nights in Paonia at the Bross Hotel, a bed and breakfast in an old Victorian house. On the second day we drove to the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to hike. After an eleven mile drive on a mostly dirt road we arrived and found our trail to Exclamation Point. What an amazing canyon, deep and dark, the rock walls threaded with quartz.

This long fall has lulled me into thinking it will last forever. I know that’s not true and will miss the sunny days and evenings warm enough to eat on the porch. I’ll pick the last of the tomatoes in preparation for the cold weather due tomorrow. And I need to shift into fall cooking, leaving eggplant, zucchini and green beans behind.

But for one last taste of summer, I got eggplant, zucchini and sweet red peppers on one of the last days that Zweck’s farm stand was open, for one last ratatouille. I served it with portions of burrata, a new indulgence for us.

On these cool mornings I sometimes prepare a hot breakfast rather than serve our usual granola with yogurt and fruit. Weekends are a perfect occasion to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of eggs and toast, pancakes or these special waffles. By using whole grains and serving the waffles with yogurt and fruit I ensure that we have plenty of nutritious food to keep us satisfied all morning. The aroma of baking waffles is hard to resist.

Combine ½ cup unbleached flour, ½ cup wholewheat flour, ½ cup cornmeal and a ½ cup rolled oats. Add one teaspoon salt, a tablespoon baking powder, two tablespoons brown sugar. I sometimes add a handful of granola for crunchy texture.

Stir in 1 ½ cups milk (any kind), two large eggs, lightly beaten, ½ cup safflower or other vegetable oil,, and one teaspoon vanilla (optional). Use one cup of batter for each waffle. Bake in a waffle iron until brown and crisp. Serve with yogurt, berries, pears or other fruit, and maple syrup. Makes about six waffles. The recipe is easily cut in half.

If you find it hard to deal with a recipe first thing in the morning, the night before assemble the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Store the eggs, milk, optional vanilla, and oil in a covered container in the fridge. In the morning simply mix together and bake the waffles.