Seasons and Celebration (and fall recipes)…

Several folks have commented to me recently that food is an important way that they celebrate the seasons. This certainly rings true in my life (and in my kitchen as well). I love the seasons. I love their predictability and yet their dynamism. Every year they come again, more or less the same, and yet each year when summer finally begins to falter and the first fresh breezes of fall begin to greet me in the mornings, I’m always surprised and delighted. Seasons reflect the beauty and creativity of the creator, who is unchanging and yet infinitely dynamic, surprising, and delightful.
Humanity craves the beauty of rhythm, but most of us non-farmer types who neither plant nor harvest remain almost entirely disconnected from the rhythms of the earth. Christine Sine suggests in her book (which I would recommend) Sacred Rhythms that when we disconnect from the nature’s seasons (and also the ecclesial calendar) consumerism begins to dictate the seasons of our life, and we are left, like one woman who Sine tells us about in her book, to define the rhythms of our life by “the pre-Christmas Sale, the after-Christmas sale, the Easter-sale, and the Thanksgiving Sale” or, alternatively, I would add, by the deadlines and projects that litter our calendars. Eating seasonal foods is one way to reconnect with and celebrate the seasons that God created.

Today was the first day that it felt like autumn. The weather was cool and breezy and the sky was a pleasant light gray. I miss the firey leaves in Cambridge, but, even here in Texas, the autumn air felt cozy and vibrant. I pulled on my super soft corduroys, a cardigan, and my scrumptious brown woolen socks that a friend brought me from Romania, and sat on my porch reading and taking in the crisp air. Across the street, my neighbor was burning a pile of dead branches that he had cut from an over grown tree so the breeze carried with it the earthy smell of burning twigs. Then, my husband came out to the porch with a new recipe he tried of butternut squash risotto, and we ate it outside with a great spinach salad, and some white wine. It was a great Fall moment. Connection with the seasons is a moment of celebration, a moment of beauty, which always draws the believer to worship. As autumn greets us, I recommend trying to cook seasonally, remembering the rhythms of creation. Here’s a great way to start:

J used this recipe for the Butternut squash risotto. If you make it as is I’m sure it is great, but we tweaked it. Instead of pureeing it we sliced the squash into chunks and sauteed it. For heartier and spicier fare, try throwing in some sliced smoked Kielbasa Sausage. So autumny yummy.

Also, girl con queso, who is an excellent blogger and cook who happens to be the most creative and beautiful member of my immediate family shared this great fall recipe: Butternut Squash Soup with crisp pancetta.