Indian Summer

This time of year tears my heart out and rips it into tiny shreds. My emotions run all over, and always did, even before throwing cancer into the mix. I can't understand the people who say they love fall best of all. I'll give you that there's lots to love about the colors, the certain angle of the light as it glows from beneath the leaves in the late afternoon. The mushrooms growing up through the leaf mulch. For plain ole' riotous beauty, there's a lot to be said for the colors of fire, and dramatic presentation. But there's that undertone of sadness, of remorse and regret. There's the memory of all we didn't do over the summer, the tomatoes we left to rot, the late crops we didn't plant, the perennials that didn't get separated. And then the trees themselves, who after carrying a pure persona of LIFE!!!! has now tucked in and will show to the world the expression of death. For six months the sky will be cloudy and gray, the sun will only manifest itself as a strange glow moving across the sky, and no moon, no stars, either. Just that odd orange glow to the northeast- the high pressure sodium night lights of Cleveland.

Yesterday I got a visit from a couple of women from my church. I tell them that they have designated themselves "church ladies" because this was the second week in a row they had gone out to visit "the sick." We sat outdoors on the deck in 70 degrees weather, it was quite breezy, there was a cacophony of wind chimes in the background, so much that it was difficult to carry on a conversation. But absolutely delightful weather! It makes me glad I didn't check the forecast. It rained overnight and while I wrote this entry, but now that I'm back to edit, the sun has come out!

I ordered a bunch of tree seedlings from the Arbor Day Foundation this spring, and we planted them right away, just as you're supposed to...but we still had a high failure rate. On of the big disappointments was American Beech. Beech is a slow, slow grower that you'll only find large samples of in old forests. When Greg moved with his family to this property in the early 60's, there were many beautiful, huge beeches. The portion of the acreage that the old house was on had never been clear cut for farming, so the trees were huge! Old, old oaks and beeches, with some maple in it was the primary forest. The building lot Greg's dad gave us is on the opposite end, and has partly overgrown farmland, and partly second growth forest, which is mostly ash and maple. We're very close to the old section back in the woods. We are trying to help the forest along with seedlings, and also by protecting the trees from deer damage. American Beech is a gorgeous tree, great to climb (yeah, I know, but one must consider these things for future generations), and it's a food tree in desperate circumstances. We've been looking at all the garden and tree centers with no luck.

Earlier this week Greg and Molly vanished just before dark. When I tried to be a little irritated with them, he told me he had found two more little seedlings on our land, plus a whole bunch - at least thirty - across the property line into the railroad right of way. We'll get those moved in the next week or so. I want to plant several up near the street, a few in the back yard on each side, and spread the others throughout the woods. I don't know how they'll grow without sunshine, since they're "old growth" they started first, on bare soil, but the seedlings that have taken root in subsequent years are growing in full shade. I imagine they're adaptable. I'm happy to invite them to live in our yard. I think we are doing OK at practicing out tree stewardship.


Here's something quick, easy, and hearty for the upcoming fall chill.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Cook 12 oz to a lb. of spaghetti, linguine, or fettucine, while you're making the sauce. Use that big pot with the pasta insert that you bought for the boiled chicken.

In a separate big wide pan or a wok, saute about a half pound of bacon, rough chopped. When it's about half way done, add four or so chopped cloves of garlic. Let them cook as the bacon finishes, but don't let the garlic get too brown or it will be bitter.

Now, pour off about half of the bacon grease, but save it in case you need to add some back. In the pan with the bacon and garlic, add about a cup and a half of half and half (nonfat is ok) and 2/3 cup or so of grated parmesan cheese. Put back onto lowest heat.

In a separate bowl, beat two or three eggs, and add, a little at a time, about a half cup of the pasta water that the pasta should be draining over by now, cause it's done, you cooked it until it was barely done, right?

Stir the egg-pasta water mixture into the rest of the sauce, then put the wet noodles into the pan, too, and stir while you heat it all up to finish cooking the noodles and smooth out the sauce. A good handful of chopped Italian parsley and a lot of fresh ground black pepper goes in now, use tongs to serve.

READ THIS PART!!!!!

I know people who skim over directions and don't come away with an understanding of why it's important that things be done in a certain sequence. So I want to talk about the pasta and the eggs.

First, always salt the pasta water. You can never do a good job of salting pasta except by cooking it in salted water. Second, I know that a lot of people pour oil into the pasta water to keep the noodles from sticking together. That's counter intuitive. It's the starch from the noodles that sticks to itself as it absorbs liquid that makes food like gravy, or pudding, or risotto, or pasta sauce, creamy, smooth, and delicious, with that great mouth feel. You know when you eat spaghetti and it tastes really delicious, but something is not quite there? It's probably the mouth feel, and the sauce is sliding off the pasta because it's oily. I always save some pasta cooking water to mix with the sauce.

EGGS. Eggs are protein and they cook and turn rubbery at low temperatures. You prevent this in sauces by tempering them, and to do this, you beat in some warm liquid to the eggs a little at a time. Then you can bring up the temperature gradually and you will have a lovely, creamy sauce.

This is one of those recipes that depends a lot on technique, not so much on ingredients. The way you treat the eggs will make or break the sauce. Pay attention.