Autumn is such a nice sounding word...

I really like autumn. And I like the sound of the word. It would make a nice name for a girl, I think.

It's that time of year where the air gets crisp and cool. The moisture huddles together in bigger puffy clouds with nice shapes. I really get excited to see the late summer/early fall fruits and veggies. This is the best time if you are a veggie foodie like me.

Some might be surprised to hear that I gave up cooking last April. I tried to continue it for a while but I just didn't have the heart. Oh, I make simple dishes still but they are not really that exciting to me. I was getting into savory pancakes last March. I was perfecting a Korean Seafood Pancake (Hey-mul Pajun). I was making it with scallions, shrimp and scallops. I had it originally last year with some friends in Seattle and just loved the idea.

I've always liked pancakes for breakfast but not really loved them. I find them too sweet and don't use syrup normally. I like to wrap a breakfast pancake around bacon and eggs to make a breakfast 'taco'. Yummers.

Anyway, I was talking about how I gave up cooking. I really need to get cooking again. It's rather expensive to go out 3x a week and the food is not that great quality-wise. I think the incoming fall fruits and veggies are calling to me. I went to the market and found some delicious eggplant on sale. I bought 9 of them. I am roasting them whole right now in the oven and going to scoup out the innards to make baba ganoush in the Turkish-style. I'll actually freeze most of it in smaller containers and pull them out to make batches as I like. I just defrost then mix in:

• juice of 1 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• crushed garlic
  
• salt and pepper

Autumn is the time of the year too when most of my fruit trees ripen. I have neglected the orchard this year. There are weighted and broken limbs on a few trees. Some of the fruit have a cankerous infection. However, despite the neglect, there is still a lot of good fruit on the trees. I've been picking asian pears daily... one for me and another for Taiga (my little girl... dog) as we walk around the yard at midday. They are super juicy and sweet. I really enjoy them.

I think I need to pick the fruit this weekend and cellar them in the 2nd fridge. I'll have fruit winter with this batch. I'm... well... almost feeling excited now that autumn is here. It's a nice change of feeling and I am feeling decent.