REFLECTIONS ON FOOD, FALL, FAMILY AND OTHER MATTERS

Inspiration!

This was the first weekend in a year that we have not been traveling or at Rainbow Ranch in Huntsville (understand there was a rainbow there this morning). It was a little strange but comforting to revert to an old routine and also do something new.

This is shaping up to be a foodie day. I fixed Collie one of his favorite breakfasts - sauteed potatoes, onions, turkey sausage, red, yellow and orange peppers, topped with scrambled eggs flavored with smoked paprika. The fruit cup made up of fresh  a summer bounty of melons, blue berries, strawberries and banana, topped with yogurt and mint helped with digestion, served with a side of toast. And of course a cup of Collie's Jack Mormon Coffee Company (In Search of the Celestial Bean) blend made it special.

We ate on the deck and watched the hummingbirds guard their feeder. If we are in the bedroom or living room and their feeder is low, they fly to the windows, look us in the eye and give us a good scolding. It's interesting how they seem to recognize our voices and respond.

Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Banana Upside-Down Cake

The four extremely ripe bananas with skins darkening and aroma heightening - you know, over ripe and just on the verge of rotten - were screaming at me not to throw them away. I found a recipe for Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Banana Upside-Down Cake in Food and Wine's Annual 2011 Cookbook. What decadence, with 3 cubes of butter and 3 cups of various sugars, plus the chocolate and peanut butter. Wish family were near to indulge with.

Collie has a wonderful afternoon planned for us - a film (our first since Sundance in January) and dinner at Flemming's.

This last week I made two trips to the Ogden Valley. The trees are just beginning their fall color show. There is that "fall is in the air" feeling that heightens each day.The temperature is cooler. All this seems to make me want to reflect and nest, cook, sleep, read and fight exercising. I need to beware of sloppy habits, like too much of the wrong foods (that cake cooling in the kitchen) and being a couch potato. There is always too much to do in a day, but I do I deserve to slow down for a day or two.


Tuesday I have my second breast biopsy and have had some feelings of anxiety lately. Collie asked if it was in connection with the surgery. I will have a general anesthetic for the first time since meniscus surgery in 2003. Perhaps, but I am sleeping well at night and feeling quite centered.

As I close this post, I am thinking about my cousin Sue's husband Ed, who has been hospitalized for cancer. He wants to go home, but so far, the medical team has not been able to control the pain. Ed is in our prayers daily.