195 & 196: It's Fall, Y'all

I woke up Saturday morning and the world was misty, and something out there in the cool gray light was chanting, "Pumpkins, pumpkins, mums, mums, pumpkins, pumpkins, mums, mums." And when that drum beat of autumn comes to you, you are a fool to ignore it. When the kids and Jeremy were awake, I told them my plan. We were going to the Farmers' Market. 

I haven't taken the kids to the Farmers' Market all year because I was being so very cautious. But they've had practice wearing masks, and they know not to touch anything, and it's outdoors, so I felt it was a reasonable risk to take. The kids and I loaded up in the car (Jeremy stayed to do chores and fix our generator), masks, water bottles, snacks, and snuggle toys in hand, and ventured off into the sunny morning, the mist risen. But I could still hear it: pumpkins, mums, pumpkins, mums.

The market was bustling, but not the crazy mid-summer bustle where you can't find a parking space. 

William decided to dress fancy for our trip
to the market. And as always, Mouse came along.

We parked, masked up, and went off in search of our quarry. We used to sell our meat at this market and I still know a lot of the vendors. When we were still there Jeremy helped get the market set up to accept SNAP cards. We do not qualify for SNAP benefits normally, but because Taiya goes to a school where all the kids receive free meals, they sent SNAP cards out to all the families this spring, so I decided to use that coronavirus relief money to support local farmers. I went to the market headquarters tent and got my wooden tokens, and we just had a blast with the free money. We got lots of goodies from Queen Pee, lots of veggies from her booth neighbor who still had tomatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, and powerfully spicy peppers. We got honey from the honey man, and lemongrass and green beans from another vendor. There was a woman selling masks and I let the kids pick one out each - they both got Halloween fabric. Then we got pumpkins from a man with piles of pumpkins of all different sizes and colors. Taiya picked a tiny white one for Featherly the Owl, and William picked a modest orange pumpkin to carve. Then we went to our friend Matt's booth for flowers and picked out a pink mum that smelled so beautiful. Our arms were thoroughly overflowing at this point, but we just had to make one last stop at the kettle corn booth for a bag of popcorn. The kids said, once we were loaded up in the car and they were digging into the popcorn with hands smelling of fresh hand sanitizer that this was the BEST DAY EVER. I was feeling very much the same way. It felt good to be out and about. Jeremy texted that he needed some kind of fluid from the auto parts store, so we made one last stop on our way home for that, and then our adventure was over. 

For dinner Saturday evening, I tried a new recipe out and it was SO good. Butter Chicken from Milk Street, made using the "fast" instructions in the instant pot. I used chicken thighs from one of our own birds, and had to figure out how to de-skin and de-bone them, which was a clumsy affair, though I managed. The whole house smelled amazing as it cooked. The recipe called for a quarter cup of garam masala! I've never used that much spice in a recipe before. But oh, it worked. It was so flavorful and warming. Another bonus was that the recipe used cashews blended smooth with water to make it creamy rather than actual cream. I could go on and on about this recipe but I'll stop there. You should just try it. 

Sunday was another crisp fall day. It was our last day to swim at the pool, as Aunt Kathy is closing it up for the season. It was COLD. I only went in for a minute and then sat in the sun. The kids screamed and played and squirted each other and had a very cold blast. Jeremy did one last cannonball for the season. Thank you, pool, for making our summer so fun. We gave Aunt Kathy a precious jar of homemade Dilly Beans as a thank you to her.