Quiet

[Clouds over Bath, September 2008.]

Le fin du weekend: the windows are open, the tree outside my living room is blowing in the strong breeze, there’s classical music on the radio and white beans simmering on the stove for an early dinner, the clouds are gusting over the hill. Though I didn’t do a whole lot today except read the paper and clean the kitchen, I’m tired. It’s been so long since I’ve been gone on a real traveling stretch and I think my body is taking awhile to catch up to my mind — which knows it’s back to life and routine and work and such — but I’m hopeful that will happen any day now (any … day … now … please).

I feel like I’ve been a ‘bad’ food blogger lately; I’ve not posted a recipe in a month and truth be told I really haven’t been cooking too much. This afternoon I baked cookies — peanut butter and oatmeal-chocolate chip — but I’ve told you all about them before. I also made quinoa soup for my work lunches this week — but same thing there, too, le sigh. However, I have a hankering for fruit scones that must be tended to very soon, as well as pumpkin bread since the first day of fall looms in just a few days, and so I feel quite confident I’ll be back in the swing of things very, very soon.

Oh, fall! I’m (mostly) ready. I think. All of a sudden the days are shorter and I’m not sure when that happened, exactly (maybe when I was in Boothbay Harbor, after a cloudy, pretty wedding on an island just offshore, where we were serenaded during the short boat trip over by a bagpiper perched on a rock and wearing the full regalia of kilt and cap; it was all terribly romantic, except for the mosquitoes). Or maybe it was atop chilly Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, when the wind whipped through my jeans as though they were made of paper and I wished I’d brought a warmer sweater (gosh there really is a lot to catch you up on). Or maybe it was today, when I went up to the roof of my apartment building to catch a bit of sun and watched the fog slowly start to roll in and felt that certain something in the air that heralds the season’s change.

[View from Cadillac Mountain, September 2008.]

Fall to me always means running, and this year is no exception. Yesterday afternoon I ran 10 miles, all the way down through the park to the sea, and then along the flat stretch by Ocean Beach for another mile until I’d reached five; then I turned round and headed back up that long, gradual incline that never fails to elicit grumbles and groans of minor regret. There was a cross-country meet (I think?) going on, and as all the parents cheered on their high schoolers I pretended a little bit the cheers were for me — and was thus buoyed past the De Young and through the Panhandle to home. I’ve signed up for a half-marathon in November, you see, and I want to at least make some sort of effort to get myself into shape for it; it’s been over a year since I’ve run a race and I’m crossing my toes I can manage it.

After my shower, I ate noodle soup and munched on leftovers for dinner and then indulged in a generous helping of the lavender ice cream I’d treated myself to from my local market. As I spent a decent portion of my weekend re-arranging and cleaning my apartment, and realizing that I do have a lot of deliciously lavender-scented items (dried lavender from a friend;cleaning products; soap) it felt both wildly decadent and completely appropriate to indulge. I caught up on netflix and made popcorn on the stove and drank orange juice and if I could do that every Saturday night, I swear I think I would be just. so. happy.

The thing is, I’ve been a bit quiet lately. I’m trying to push through the lingering jetlag and over-stimulation of the last month or so to come up with some new and interesting things to cook — I miss the kitchen, I truly do — but it’s been difficult. I’ve just been so sleepy and more inclined to cook simply, which doesn’t always make for interesting writing. Luckily, though, I’m finding my back there little by little — promise.

But look! I baked you cookies! (Especially you!) And maybe also me! And perhaps my office as well! Well, they’re for all of us, really. On a sunny, blowy Sunday afternoon around tea-time, they’re just perfect.

See you soon?

[Sunday afternoon peanut butter cookies, September 2008.

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