Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 2013

Over a year ago I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for November 2013 - grouped into themes.

Seasonal Food

Pumpkin bake. One way I celebrate fall is to bake a whole pumpkin. It happens almost every year. The one this year was a little larger than usual - purchased at Home Depot; it was a bright orange decoration for our front porch for a few weeks before I decided to cook it. The color deepened after it baked for an hour or so. I cut a wedge, scooped away the seeds and stringy part from the center, and enjoyed it drizzled with butter and cinnamon. Then I divided the rest of the usable pulp into smaller portions - half for the freezer and half for more immediate pumpkin related celebrations.

Pumpkin and Yogurt Custard. It’s worth celebrating when a culinary experiment works; this one did although I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to duplicate it. I roughly followed the pumpkin custard recipe but used plain non-fat yogurt rather than milk, a non-calorie granular sweetener, and more eggs than usual. It developed a sugary crust that was very appealing!

Pumpkin and Ginger Scones. I had never made scones before but decided to try the recipe I posted in my gleanings a few weeks ago. There are two causes to celebrate: these particular scones are really good and scones are incredibly easy to make in a food processor (why did it take me so long to discover this?).

Pumpkin seed oil. It’s green! It’s yummy! I’ve started drizzling it over a mini-pita - making a fancy design like they do in high end restaurants.

Pomegranate. In the past few years - pomegranates have become part of the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration for me. It is their season to be plentiful in the stores and I like to think of them as the ‘jewels’ of the season.

Outdoors in the Fall

Foliage. The play of colors in the forest is the grand celebration before winter starkness.

Hike to the Patapsco. Walking through fields and forest on a crisp fall day is a more active way to celebrate the season.

Elementary School Nature Field Trips. I celebrated during every hike I led for elementary school field trips over the past month. What a privilege it is to share their first experiences: milkweed, black walnuts, wooly caterpillars, maple leaves changing color, the rocks of a stone wall between fields.

Raking Leaves. I prefer raking to blowing the leaves that fall too thickly on the ground. Raking is quiet work so I hear the birds and squirrels while I enjoy the leaves that still retain their color. They smell like rich forest tea the leaf mulch will become over the winter. There is a nostalgic celebration in raking leaves since the activity is the beginning of the end for fall.

Amanda Cross mysteries. I always celebrate finding a new author. All three Cross books I’ve read so far area already favorites….and there 11 more to go!

Enjoying an Amanda Cross Mystery

The last Amanda Cross mystery was published over 10 years ago - but I’ve discovered them recently. I just finished my third - and favorite so far: Sweet Death, Kind Death. It was published in 1984. As I read it I realized that I am enjoying it more now because of the growing up I’ve done over those 30 years. It is easier to identify with the victim - a woman in her late 50s that believed in women’s lives ‘beginning again just when it was supposed to be over.’ It is counter to what our culture tells us but more and more women in 2013 - boomers - are discovering the 'beginning again' path for themselves.

Another appeal is that the author was an English professor (Amanda Cross was a pen name for Carolyn Gold Heilbrun) and the sleuth in her books, Kate Fransler, is an English professor. What fun to have an imagined set of stories as tangents of a real life! The settings are college campuses and include the challenges that female college professors encountered (or at least the three novels I’ve read so far do…but they are all from the mid-80s or earlier).

I even like the liberal use of quotations from literary sources. They always seem just right for their placement in the story. The dialog is witty - and intellectual…probably realistic for groups of academics.  Before I pass my copies of the books on, I’ll have to glean some favorite quotes (either Heilbrun or her quotes from others).

Not all the books are in print. I have gotten my set from paperbackswap. I have 11 more of the mysteries to savor this winter!