abbondanza

I'm re-reading Plenty today in preparation for a paper that I'll be giving at the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association conference in Alexandria, Virginia this weekend. The book, which chronicles the local eating adventures of J.B. MacKinnon and Alisa Smith in Vancouver, far surpasses Barbara Kingsolver's local eating manifesto. Don't get me wrong. I love me some Kingsolver, but this co-written memoir is more deftly written, in my opinion, and much more compelling on a number of levels.

We've been in a rut here on Quackenbos. In part because it's that time of the semester when students seem a little less patient (and sometimes even less kind), when the work just piles up (preliminary exams, grants, grading, applications for sabbatical), and when the air starts to get a bit colder promising that winter is on its way. To add insult to injury, we've been feeling a bit under the weather, our appetites not what they used to be. What we needed was a little reminder of the plenty that still surrounds us in fall.

I headed up to the Takoma Park Farmers' Market this morning. Mr. Beeton was studying, but I needed some apples. Correction. I needed some apples, some cucumbers, the last of the garden fresh tomatoes, some sourdough bread, some sweet potatoes, and some string beans. $45 worth of fresh produce. Totally worth it. I toasted the sour dough bread and smothered it with tomatoes, garlic, basil from our garden, oregano, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. I mashed up the sweet potatoes, melted some butter on top, and sprinkled them with salt. I made applesauce according to Laurie Colwin's directions (another author I'll be talking about in my paper). And tonight, we'll make a modification of Rachel Ray's tomato soup accompanied with grilled cheese on sourdough bread (of course).

Slowly, the stresses of fall are fading away. We've got plenty of other things to occupy our time.

Keep sweeping, Martha