September = Comfort. Food, That Is

Can you believe yesterday reached 34*C here yesterday? That is 93*F! 93! We didn't reach 93 all summer long that I can remember. It's making it very interesting getting dressed in the morning seeing the nights are definitely cooling off. One night was barely above freezing. So if you dress for the morning you are sweltering in the afternoon, but if you dress for the afternoon you are freezing first thing in the morning. The nights are interesting too as it is hot when I go to bed so I haven't put our big quilt on the bed yet and I have the window open, but by 4 am I am waking up freezing. LOL. It's all quite schizophrenish on the old body temperature regualtor.

However, all this heat is doing a nice wonder on the later harvest of tomatoes. Take a look at this baby my mom gave me.

And that wasn't even the biggest one of the bunch. That's an ox heart tomato and it was pretty wonderful. We've been enjoying tomatoes sliced, tomatoes on burgers, toasted tomato sandwiches and even tomatoes in a Monte Cristo sandwich. I know that's not a traditional Monte Cristo but I couldn't help myself.

We've been having a feast on fresh garden vegetables from the farmers market all this last week. I went just a tad beserk last Saturday when visiting it. We've had baby beets with butter and salt and fresh ground pepper, green beens in a spicy pork stew, steamed carrots and parsnips, stuffed peppers, and roasted yellow wax beans sprinkled with olive oil with italian seasoning and chili seeds sprinkled on top. And that's not even to mention the wonderul fresh potatoes. Oh the new potatoes. Boiled with lots of butter and fresh dill or parsley. And you'll know it's a seriously yummy potato if you know I can skip the sour cream. Oh my word, it's comfort food heaven.

At this time of year, I love doing "Stone Soup" with my dayhome. The kids love it. I get the book from the library. There are a couple of versions, so I pick the one with the young boy so the kids relate. Then each of them bring something from home to contribute to the pot. It's a secret what they bring. Nobody tells until they come with it. It's lots of fun to see the different things that will go in the pot. And it makes for a different soup everytime which is a part they find really exciting. Not to mention that putting on an apron and getting to clean and cut up whatever they bring is no small thrill for them. They love to help cook.

And then there is the anticipation of who gets the stone in their bowl come lunch time. Because of course there is a little prize for who gets the stone. Yes, I actually do put a stone in there. One I've had for years and have cleaned and put away for this very purpose. It's a fun harvest tradition.

Do you have any harvest traditions or meals that you do?