It’s fall, though not as much fall as I would like. But it’s apple season and I need to get out and hand pick some apples. Sumo (orange) season is my favorite fruit season and that is in January, but a close second is apple season– when the apples are good. I want to drive over to Ellijay and get some apples there. I would like a Big Mutsu, some really good Winesaps or Romes. But every year is different. The only good apples I had last year were Cosmic Crisps, which are wonderful. However, they sometimes have a very bitter off-putting taste in the peel, so off-putting that I don’t know if I will try them again. The peelings are my favorite part of the apple.
I bought a coffee percolator, an electric one. I think once I figure out the right ratio of coffee to water for us that it will be very nice, but this morning I messed up and the coffee wasn’t strong enough, so I’m drinking some drip coffee right now. I think I like the taste of percolator coffee, it’s what I grew up on in my early years. I always like funeral home or church coffee because it’s always made in one of those huge old percolators, at least it used to be. You know it occurs to me that I drank coffee black for so long, black with water added to it to cool it down. At some point I started drinking cream in my coffee which really is so complicated, because I tend to experiment all the time instead of sticking to a tried and true formula. My hairdresser says that I do this because I’m creative.
I’m going through this urge recently to have major changes in my life. I thought of moving, I’m eager for my son James to find placement in a home somewhere so that he can begin to grow away from me and I from him, and then Dale and I can move back downstairs to the master bedroom and use the attic suite as an office. We almost bought a new car. We just bought a reclining loveseat that we haven’t really gotten to use yet because I’ve been sick. I’m always making changes to the kitchen trying to make it more efficient and more pleasing. I recently bought a 3 quart Instant Pot, yesterday my new 2 quart saucier was delivered, a Misen. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much for one pan in my life, but it’s heavy and the sides are rounded so that I can whisk to my heart’s content. I’m going to replace the Farberware 1 quart saucepans I have because they’re crap, even though they feel homey and familiar to me. With the induction stove it is better to have perfectly flat heavy pans so that the pans don’t move around on the eye and the induction coils respond better to a flat heavy surface, at least that’s what I think at this point. I’m still having some trouble with the induction stove. It’s difficult for me to boil things like grits or cream of wheat or cream of Buckwheat, rice, pasta even. When you are used to being very active in the kitchen and counting on the boil time to give you leeway to clean up as you go or do some prep, a stove that boils so rapidly throws everything off. And the most annoying thing that I have found is that if I decide to try boiling it on a six or seven it often won’t come to a boil, or when I’m doing Cream of Wheat with powdered milk put in the water it will burn if I don’t constantly whisk it. I will try cooking my cream of wheat in the new 2 quart saucier and see if it still tends to burn. I may also need to just let up on the idea that water has to be at an actual rolling boil to add the dry ingredients–I have noticed a couple of times that the water won’t begin to boil until I’ve added the Cream of Wheat.
I found the good bagels and bread and Ore-i-da Hash Brown Patties (!!) at Pruett’s on Signal Mountain. And because I enjoy driving up there, I don’t mind making the trip at all.
I’m eager to see how wearing dresses will transition into fall. It never gets very cold here and I suspect that I will be able to wear the same dresses all winter long with leggings and turtlenecks underneath. I have so many cardigans and some good pullover sweaters. I’ll be putting up my new wardrobe on this page later today today. The thing that concerns me most is shoes and I’m going to, as my mama always said, “set my satchel down” for two pairs of Hokas, actually that will be three pairs because I’m going to be buying one of their little “recovery” shoes for the gym. I want a white pair of leather sneakers and a black pair of leather sneakers for winter. I would like to try these on first, however that will probably not work out I should just order them today have them delivered and see how it goes.
I’m recovering from my second round with Covid. I went to the doctor and started Paxlovid on the third day but my blood pressure went up so I had to stop that medication. Then I felt better, tested negative two days in a row, and I thought I was out of the woods completely, but yesterday everything came back with a vengeance. I have tested negative for Covid again, two days in a row, but I feel exactly the way I did when I got sick. Oddly enough my husband and my son have not shown any signs of Covid at all. Just me. My husband did point out that when we sleep at night we both have CPAP masks on now which we did not have last December when we had Covid and I caught it from him. Perhaps this is why he has not gotten sick–we’re just not sharing as much air as usual and I have been staying upstairs in our attic bedroom where I do most of my writing and drawing.
I seem to feel a bit better today, so here’s to it.
~r.
