Wednesday, November 2, 2016

The scrambled season


I am a fool for tulips in late fall. I know it contradicts my seasonally appropriate life, but I never claimed to be a fundamentalist. They reappear now, in the cool weather, in bunches outside bodegas and delis. The ones here were a birthday gift from the Frenchman. As was the shiny new espresso pot on the right of the stove. You can never have too many espresso pots. We both fell in love with this Alessi model when we spent a September weekend upstate with friends.


I am still drying persimmons, hoshigaki style. 


These are the American persimmons I foraged recently, just peeled, and hanging in our sunny southern windows, with the Thai limes. They are small and dry fast, and I have the rounded 'Fuyus' and 'Hashiyas' (pointy bottoms) for comparison, in the other window. They take much longer.


Otherwise, there are mushrooms to clean and process and cook and test in recipes, a fresh haul of acorns, another batch of persimmons, gardens to design, stories to write, a house to clean and a garden to put to bed.

I think I just panicked.

20 comments:

  1. Oh! I love those glowing persimmons in the window! Like a a decoration.

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    1. Yes - great Christmas decorations, as it seems they'll take about that long to be ready!

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  2. I also adore tulips and always like to treat myself to a sunny bunch. I had a very funny cat who liked to smell the flowers. Once I sprang for an expensive bunch of tulips in the dead of winter. I put them on the coffee table and went to bed. I came down the next morning and all I had was a vase full of green stems! Not a single petal anywhere in sight. I can only guess that he ate the petals during the night? I was both furious he ate $10 worth of flowers, but also laughing at his guilty expression when I scolded him. He KNEW what I was scolding him for.

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    1. I can't bring cut flowers into my house either due to two cats who sample everything they can get their paws on. Old age has slowed one down. She can't jump like she once did but the other, oiy! You are right, they always know why you are scolding them. Recently Molly has taken to shredding paper napkins. Well, she likes cardboard too. We have nicknamed her the "shredinator" or termite.

      Happy birthday Marie! ������

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    2. KellyRed - that is a very funny story. And tulips ARE edible, even for humans :-)

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    3. KatieC - do you think it is an indoor-cat thing? Our cat was allowed out (rooftops, confined terrace) and had access to grass in pots, and never ate vase-flowers, but I've heard of this issue before! =^^= Termite is an excellent name for a cat.

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  3. Our market up here on the mountain top never has any decent flowers - every week I look, every week I pass them by. Your home looks lovely and cozy!

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    1. Oh, sad. We are definitely spoiled with flowers, as they are nearby and affordable.

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  4. You never fail to delight me. I'm loving the espresso pots (could do with a cup now), the orange tulips and the little pitcher vase and the drying persimmons. Very cool...did you tell us already why you are drying them? For decor or delicious delights?

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    1. Thank you :-) Delicious delights, definitely.

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  6. Very intrigued by this persimmon drying...

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    1. Me too. So far: the little indigenous ones - nuggets of great chewiness. The big ones (Fuyu are the furthest along), very interesting and very perfumed, still moist and with a few more weeks to go. The Hashiyas (large, acorn shape) still have a long way to go. Tonight I am peeling and stringing up more Fuyus...

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  7. I, too, love tulips in any season. Your "work" list is very much like mine. I still have bulbs and garlic to plant. And the garden to clean. And the house is always needing cleaning. I love seeing pictures of your home---this one seems to suit you best--am I right?

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    1. Ugh - the house the house. Between writing deadlines and making new recipes and photographing them for publication and plant lists and new story ideas, sometimes actual house cleaning seems like the pinnacle of luxury. I - perversely - LIKE cleaning (or maybe I like the fresh, squeaky clean result), but not when it feels like I should be doing something else for actual income :/

      Yes, we do like this apartment. If I could cherry pick from each of our previous NYC places, we'd have the ideal fit: The light, the sky and the relative peace of our top floor Cobble Hill place; the cathedral ceilings, wonderful upstairs neighbor and proximity to Central Park of our Harlem pad...:-)

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  8. I'm glad to see you decided to do hoshigaki :)

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  9. There is a persimmon tree at the edge of the woods outside my bedroom window. I've cut the tips of branches and used the persimmon stems in arrangements and baskets but I've never tried to prepare or preserve them to eat. When you freeze the pulp what do you do with it later?

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    1. Hi Barbara - It depends what you like. Breads (the banana bread type), cooked chutneys (tamarind, spices, ginger), pies (bourbon/cheesecake), puddings, etc. Leave the fruit to ripen before you pulp and freeze, though. My dried persimmons are like chewy candy.

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  10. I love the persimmons, and the fairy lights, and your lovely kitchen! It all looks so nice and cozy.

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