fall food

every summer, it seems our entire city gets wrapped up in and unreasonably excited about The Ozark Empire Fair. (neither Agnes nor i tend towards that mindset, don't worry) (though i do recall in years past that Agnes competed in some type of sewing competition- you should ask her) ------------
anyway, i think the real reason people get so worked up about the fair is for the food. certainly it isn't for the frightening, rickety rides, oversized people in wife beaters with chewing tobacco, and general waves of sickening heat rolling over the pavement. no, surely not for that. i can only be enticed to enter the fairgrounds if i KNOW i'll be getting a corndog, and or a funnel cake. it's disgusting, and it's food i will not eat under any other circumstance - but it DOES scream summer, or more honestly, "CHOLESTEROL! STOP EATING ME NOW!"

but i digress.

today, as i sit sipping my morning coffee, i'm thrilled to report it's a nippy 52 degrees outside, and i'm LOVING it. fall is my favorite, due in part to the beautiful weather, and mostly to the fact that i can TURN ON THE STOVE again and COOK without feeling like i'm suffocating. we had one of the hottest summers on record in this part of the country, and i spent the majority of that time with my head in the freezer, trying to find cold things to eat (which if you know me at all is way out of character. i DON'T. LIKE. COLD. FOOD)
fall food for me means soups, and chili, and hearty, warming things that fill up the body and heart equally. i have so many memories tied into food, and most of them are of cooking with my mama, and fall just brings those sweet thoughts flooding back.

so tonight i'll be making a new lentil soup recipe - and if it's delicious, i'll share, PROMISE. i'm getting better about WRITING down the ingredients i use and i'm actually working on a little cookbook. nothing fancy, and in the end it will probably have five recipes in it, but i don't care.

be back soon with soup reports and PICTURES ---- (of the soup, of course. i don't have an adorable asian baby with chubby cheeks, or i'd be posting HUNDREDS of those ......)

love and lentils,
e