I wrote a column late this summer about election season -- particularly August and early September-- being called Silly Season in Washington, and, I suppose, by pundits elsewhere/everywhere. In D.C. we knew it was Silly Season when people were getting on the subway in shorts, without a sweater (the air conditioning is very cold in the buildings in D.C.). We knew it was Silly Season when we couldn’t get those cheapo weekend rooms at Dewey Beach, or St. Michael’s. These memories are all strongly photographic: the white socks in the sneaker, chubby knees below the shorts, the bellies pressing against thin cotton t shirts that will be too cold in the Air and Space Museum, in the Metro. The haze across the Chesapeake bay bridge. The yellow of the corn at the roadside stands.

This Saturday, the market was 20% open stands. My son asked for raspberries (the last weekend was it), pears (only a week or two left, said the vendor I secretly call Mountain Girl), a Horchata (still going strong). And these were signs: pointing towards velvet, shimmering green. Kale Season.

This week we’ll be trying the Kale and Pork Chops I saw on DALS, and since it was $2 for three bunches, there will be “homemade pirate booty” (Kale Chips), and, I imagine, next week we’ll be eating one of our top 5 favorite pasta dishes: Portuguese Pasta.

Portuguese Pasta (Or, Pasta with Sausage and Kale)
3 tbs olive oil
1 lb hot sausage, crumbled
1/2 lb kale, center ribs discarded, leaves chopped
1/2 lb rigatoni
1/2 c broth
1 oz grated Pecorino plus additional for serving

Directions
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking, add sausage, breaking up any lumps with a spoon, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, blanch kale in a 6-quart pot of boiling salted water, for about 5 minutes, strain.
Return cooking water to a boil, and cook pasta. Drain, reserving 1/2 c pasta water.
While pasta cooks, add kale to sausage in skillet and sauté, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add broth, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of skillet.
Add pasta, reserved cooking water to skillet, tossing until combined. Stir in cheese.

Last Monday, J and I made a day of the dead altar for my grandmother, Bee. I have been telling him about her lately because our fair city has gone Baseball Crazy, and  I always remember her life as being bookended by the Red Sox:  she was about a year old the last time they one before the next time, and she died the year they one the next time. She always said she wasn't much interested in Baseball, and really, who could blame her. But now, what with watching games every other night with an ever-widening circle of neighbors, and with Giants t-shirts bestowed upon him by superfans,  J is an affirmed Baseball fan. He wants to learn how to play, pretends  everything is a baseball stick, calls the stadium "Baseball's house", "Where Baseball live" (I should send that into the Giant's, right?).

So we've been talking about my grandmother, and drew some baseballs for her, and covered our alter in pink tissue paper roses. She loved pink, and always pretended to hate roses... so she wouldn't be disappointed  when they didn't come. She was a bit perverse,  a tough old lady, a proud New Englander, and I  still miss her.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the alter before we took the cookies to the procession,  before J tore the papel picado,  but we enjoyed having it on the table on Monday, and talking about our memories of her.

For whatever reason, Fall always makes me think of party food.
It’s funny, really, because we never have a party in September, too full of the fun of “back to school”, and often, a trip for my father-in-law’s birthday. And November brings my birthday, and thanksgiving, and, in years past, the annual California Road Trip we and some friends would take (in the Before J era).

So really, it’s October that makes me think of parties, although funnily enough not ones that I host. One friend always hosts a Chili Cook-off (we’ve only won the whole thing once:(), swollen now to more than 200 people, 7 types of chili, and separate competitions for sides, deserts, and specials. I think she should get Anchor Steam Brewery to sponsor the event, but not this year: no cook-off, as baby number 2 is due in 2 weeks. Then there is Heather’s annual pumpkin carving: pumpkins, red wine, oatmeal cookies, tortillas and (homemade) tomatillo salsa, and all kinds of sweet potato snacks, her favorites.

Heather moved to Amsterdam two years ago, though.We’d hoped to visit her this October, but instead we are here, in the rain.

I do love fall party food, too. Where as other times of year I feel compelled to cook something innovative, or Asian, or Italian, in the fall, it seems perfectly acceptable, appropriate, even, to simply have comfort food, super traditional stuff that rarely makes it into the sort of cookbook chefs write, Amazon recommends, or the library displays. So this year, I’ve decided to start a new tradition, our own October party... call it an insurance plan against new babies or moves,if you will: I want to make sure I get my fall party in.

This Sunday, we’re hosting our first annual pumpkin carving party, with 10 of J’s friends, their parents, a bevvy of my favorite fa snacks, old and new.

I am originally from Washington, D.C., and Cheese Straw are a common snack in the South, as are the Spiced Nuts and Sugared Bacon. All of these recipes are pretty easy to make, and a bit addictive.

Cheese Straws
8 oz grated Cheddar cheese
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut up
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon cream

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a food processor, combine all the ingredients through the pepper until the mixture is coarse/breadcrumble-y, then add the cream and blend just until the dough balls.
On a lightly floured surface roll the dough until 1/8-inch thick.
With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into 1/4 inch wide strips.
Transfer the strips to a lined cookie sheet
Bake the straws on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, until the ends are just brown.
Cool before serving.

Spiced Pecans
4 tablespoons butter, melted
4 cups pecan halves
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Combine the butter and the pecans in a medium bowl and toss to coat.
Spread the pecans in one layer on a large cookie sheet.
Bake for 25 minutes, shaking the pan 2-3 times to prevent scorching.
Let Pecans cool slightly (10 minutes-ish), then sprinkle with salt and cayenne.
Cool completely before serving.

Sugared Bacon
1 lb bacon (in slices)
1 tsp cayenne
1/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Slice Bacon slices into thirds, length wise (basically you are making bacon snacks or bites instead of big breakfast slices).
Mix Sugar and pepper together
Line two large cookie sheets, and spray with nonstick spray
Arrange bacon in a single layers on the sheets.
Evenly sprinkle with pepper and sugar.
Bake until bacon is crisp and browned, about 30 minutes. Rotate the sheets half-way through cooking to prevent burning.
Drain on paper towels,and serve immediately (while warm!)

Ice Breaker
I first had this drink at a now long-closed restaurant in San Francisco called The Last Supper Club. Cheesy name, but they had a great bar, and some fantastic down home Italian dishes. It is sorely missed.

These are proportions only; I’ll be making a pitcher for us adults:

1 1/2 ounces ice wine
1 1/2 ounces Ciroc or other grape-based vodka
4 frozen grapes

Fill half of a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the wine and vodka and shake well. Strain into a martini glass, garnish with the frozen grapes and serve.


Also on the menu:
Etsy’s cupcake adaptation of Rose Bakery’s Broccoli Cake (the cake is delicious, and so fun for kids) and Orangette’s Sweet Potato Bundt Cake.

My friend Jason says he’s looking forward to his son’s first opportunity to run with scissors.... I’m just looking forward to the food.

This blog post + these recipes are part of Pretty Mommy’s fall recipe exchange. Last up was whiskitgood with the great post on Morocco (we spent our honeymoon there!) and Moroccan food .... next up (Monday) is Tina at Bull in a China Shop.... looking forward to more recipes!

This month is so different from how we might experience it on the East Coast, or in any other city.

Hispanic Heritage Month

This year, we’ll celebrate with J’s first trip to Mission Dolores.

Halloween THE holiday of San Francisco
Lion, lion tamer and zoo keeper.

Blue Angels
This year with my airplane crazy little boy, should be extra-fun

Our Annual “big hike”
Mt Tam!

This is a full enough list, but I added the 30/30 Bikram Challenge and a Kids pumpkin carving project to the list. Which means I need to fix up/clean up our disaster of a  back patio... so, some patio inspiration:


(Paxton's Gate, by Eric)



(Flora Grubb, by Unruly Things)



SF Zoo,again,by me-- apparently this section , the Safari section, as we've taken to calling it, has plantings from South Africa, because they have the same Mediterranean climate as SanFrancisco. I love how the plants are tropical-in-nature, but have the sort of grayed colors so common here, like a stormy seashore... really points out the graphical, hard edged shapes.

Fall is not my favorite season (Spring, or Summer... definitely not winter!), but so many things about it are favorites:
New clothes... I always lived and died by my back to school outfit, and it’s a tradition I still keep, something special to wear that first day back from labor day, or the long summer vacation... this year a new Ulla Johnson dress with an old pair of jeans I can (finally) wear again (I love Bikram).
Often, a new haircut although, really, it’s always about my latest take of David Bowie’s haircut on the cover of Low...


Checking in on goals that I never really set until February, at the dawn of Spring, and reviewing my life list, and adjusting the budget.

Fall food is my favorite, an opportunity for big complex flavors, but it’s not cold, and it’s not all root vegetables yet, and it’s not so hot that I can’t stand to cook. Chili, Roast Pork, French Meatloaf, Espresso Cashew Bars, Lasagne, bliss.

But having a child, a family, has changed some of this. It’s made me a little more conscious of the rhythms of nature, it’s helped me slow down and open my eyes to the change in the air, which is a little subtler here in our marine-layer-blanketed city on the west coast. Really, September is still summer for us. And yet it’s bittersweet, a short summer.

Next month, October, is a big time for commemoration here: day of the dead, halloween, Cleanup day at the AIDS Memorial Grove, the names read out on All Saints Sunday. This October I think we’ll take J to Mission Dolores, too, his first visit... and perhaps a historic walk around the neighborhood.

November brings my birthday, and of course Thanksgiving, but my favorite thing about the month is the Beaujolais Noveau, so yummy and so fun. This year I think we’ll drive up to wine country here, for the harvest celebration at our CSA farm.



We spent today on our annual fall hike (it’s too hot for me to hike in the summer, I am too fair and get sunstroke easily), and next week we’ll set off for the Monarch preserve and the migrating butterflies... something I’ve wanted to do ever since I read Dear Mr. Henshaw. I don’t know why I couldn’t go until I had J as an “excuse”, but I am grateful to have one.


 And an excuse to buy little boy back to school clothes, an excuse for looking for the harvest moon, for planning a camping trip, for slowing down and enjoying the seasons-- as different as they may be here from anywhere else, wherever we are.

Yesterday J and I went to the Zoo. It seemed an appropriate fall transition, somehow, after a summer spent painting, watching, catching and swimming with fishies to turn now to more terrestrial creatures.



And really, this transition began a few weeks ago, on Cape Cod, where J had his first horse ride. Yesterday we fed goats and ducks and horses and llamas, and talked about farm life, and how the harvest time was near.


But really what J wanted to see was the Lion (who was sound asleep! on his back!), and I realized we’ve been reading the “Lion Book” and awful lot lately (God, I miss Cookie magazine, which turned me on to that gorgeous book-- I bought it for J's first Christmas, and while he's only now getting around to enjoying it, it's gotten a lot of love from me). When we got home, J asked me to draw Lions with the “big chalks” and we did... and I wondered if he learned this from me, the extending the book as far as it will go, or if I had learned it from him?



Regardless, I’m glad we have both an aquarium and a zoo to help make these books come to life.