dinner at clarklewis

Finally fall
I have been waiting for the Japanese maple tree outside our front door to turn.  Now that it has I am finally confident that fall has arrived. The really striking thing about this tree, though, is not the bright yellow color of the leaves, but the brilliant green of the trunk and branches.

Some holiday knitting
At this time of year those of us who knit often find ourselves in knitting overdrive, trying to finish gifts and other holiday-associated knitting projects.  I don’t usually give a lot of knitted gifts at Christmas or Hanukkah, but I have knitted stockings for all of my family, as well as for others who have asked. I also finally knitted a stocking for myself

Rustic apple tart
Every autumn I fall in love with apples all over again.  I swoon at the first bite of a crisp, tart whole apple, close my eyes to fully experience the sweetly sour tang of fresh-pressed apple cider, and, of course, get inspired thinking of apples baked into all kinds of sugary and savory dishes. Among my favorite baked apple desserts is tarte tatin, or what the ever-so-French Jacques Pepin refers to as a Country Apple Tart.

Making pita at home
One of my favorite breads to make at home is pita, something I once thought was out of my reach but that I now make at least a few times a year. The recipe I like is Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s contribution to Baking with Julia, the cookbook that accompanied Julia’s wonderful baking show on PBS.

Orange hat
A few weeks ago an old friend was in town.  We had not seen each other for too long and we spent a lot of time reconnecting and talking about what had been happening in our lives over the intervening years. One of the results of her visit was this hat: knitted for her daughter, whose favorite color is orange.