A Sense of Place

After a cold and wet October, at last a fabulous Indian summer weekend. Sunny and warm both Saturday and Sunday, with less wind on Sunday. I abandoned my plans to spend most of the weekend at my computer and enjoyed the great weather.

Saturday turned into a grand tour of west suburban Chicago. I attended the west suburban networking breakfast of Chicago Women in Publishing for the first time. There were only five of us, but we had a good discussion about using social media for business. Then from Naperville to Winfield (walked in a park) to Glen Ellyn (grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s) to Elmhurst (shopped for tea, visited the library, and walked around downtown) to Hinsdale (dinner and more grocery shopping).

Sunday was a stay-at-home day, with lots of cooking and gardening. I trimmed the irises back and cut down two large bags of saplings that were encroaching on my perennial bed. Still lots more to trim; that could be a full-time job, as could picking up sticks. The next two weeks are supposed to be warmer than average, so I left the chard, arugula, and container lettuce for another day.

I made roasted pumpkin-apple soup from the Dec. 2009 issue of Eating Well. That’s for Souper Monday at work. From November through March, volunteers bring soup on one Monday during the month. I also mixed the dough for Pumpkin Pie Brioche from the new book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The dough smells great, but I didn’t bake it yet, as it needs to chill for several hours. Warning–if you try this recipe, use a big container to store the dough. My first choice wasn’t large enough, and I had a dough explosion! Fortunately, I checked before it completely overran the bowl.