An early Halloween horror scare in the season of food and comfort
THERE is something about the autumn months that puts a march in the step, a happiness in the heart and a pain in the back. The senescence of nature reflected in the changing colour of leaves and the more solemn air as winter sets in: darker evenings, smoke billowing from chimneys, vivid smells, winter ready bills, warms the cockles of the heart. It is, as if, everything comes back on track and life moves in a more natural rhythm. To me, above all, the darker evenings and colder days add up to food in all its tantalising guises.
Having been raised on tinned ravioli, ham sandwiches, Hot Cup soups and ready made sauces, I have evolved from my processed past into a fully flegded foodie, and at times, a wine expert to boot!
Peering into my freezer over the weekend, I realised I had turned into a squirrel. No less than 15 frozen steaks greeted me, along with a leg of lamb, several varieties of freezer bag protected fish, sausages, a slab of beef, ice cream, burgers, the end of an Aldi ‘Brunch’ ice cream The Whirlwind Princess had stuffed in there somehow, for safe keeping and numerous bags of frozen spinach and veg.
Now I’m not normally a horder, except for newspaper articles, set aside, but even here I’m more a well intentioned sloth.
As the freezer evidence attests, I clearly have been planning my winter meals all summer. I have my mother arriving in a few weeks, hence the roast meats to be thawed out, but the rest is just a bit excessive.
My food obsessions reached peak levels in Berlin, when unbeknownst to myself, my movements were, by and large, food related.
I was the first of the gang up every morning, even chancing a run, the morning after the first night out, and my destination was always one tracked down by my nose. Not being one for using Tripadvisor around every corner, as I try to avoid smartphones as much as possible on holiday, I rely on guide books for, erm, guidance and soon found myself eating apple streudel, followed by curry wurst (a hot dog with loads of ketchup and curry powder on top), followed by weiner schnitzel, and pancakes with hot berries on top.
I had listed - among my top three activities in Berlin - visiting a massive food emporium. This did not come to pass, but over the weekend, I must have sampled a dozen diffeent varieties of German food and except for the curry wurst, I can report that all were very good.
Back in my galley kitchen my spice rack features spices from across the world from sumac to Nigella seeds and I do use most of them. As winter draws in I anticipate many grand Sunday meals and lots of lazy afternoons, but while there is light, there is work.
And so Sunday was spent picking up the gold, bronze and burnt orange leaves from the front and back garden, assisted by some eager beaver young neighbours and The Whirlwind Princess and The Little Fella.
The work went slowly and as we finished in the fading light with the glow of a distant street lamp our only guide, a sense of great satisfaction washed over me, as I blotted out the rest of my duties (grass cutting, decking fixing upping and treating etc).
I had the spare room full of Halloween ghouls, skeletons and evil laughing pumpkins and then the fireworks went off as The Whirlind Princess declared that she was too scared to go into the house. Gah!
The Halloween fun will have to be more ‘safe’ and old fashioned, but what harm.
There will be treats and tricks and hot food. Oh yes, plenty of that!