Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook! I’m so glad you’re here!
It’s been a while since I’ve been at my desk because, as I’ve said a lot this year–another day, another crisis. This time, the washing machine blew up and–long story short–we now need to replace all the flooring in the den. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to clean up from this latest disaster and trust me–it has not been a merry time of laughter and joy…unless a version of that includes a lot of cursing, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Mr. Stone Soup has long been an advocate of no indoor plumbing. After this ordeal, I’m beginning to give pause to his rather tongue-in-cheek advocation.
While replacing the floor is going to take a while, cleaning up the mess is more or less done enough for me to focus on other things, like getting Christmas cards out, shopping for presents and doing a little cooking and writing.
The holidays are such a complicated time. They’re full of good cheer and I never fail to find joy in them. I also never fail to get totally overwhelmed by them. Each year, I vow to make time to see friends and family, to get out and see special plays, concerts or community events, to listen to cozy, festive music and to cook and bake all those special foods I have loved my whole life. And each year, I fall well short of this goal. Maybe everybody does, but I always marvel at those folks who get every nook and cranny of their houses decked out for the holidays and have time and energy to bake hundreds of cookies and entertain to boot. This year, I got an advent wreath set up and the dining room tablecloth and centerpiece changed out to seasonal finery and felt really good about things. The things I didn’t do could fill up a whole blog post, but I’m trying not to dwell on that.
I’m happy to say that we did get out with friends to see a walkabout version of A Christmas Carol, we attended a lovely holiday symphony concert with a friend and we attended several delightful holiday parties. And most notably, Mr. Stone Soup and I escaped to Napa for one day and one night. It was a Sunday and it was quiet and beautiful–most of the tourists had already gone home by the time we got there and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was the first time we’d been able to get up there in about two years. We took Jino with us and basked in the quiet beauty of the landscape and drank wine that, as they say, is like bottled poetry. It was balm for our weary souls and we enjoyed every minute of it. But now that the final push is on, and we are getting ready to visit family, this year I will not be baking Christmas cookies, making panettone or any other special holiday treats. Instead, as I sit in my little office, I am appreciating the time we have had with friends, good wine, the cool, rainy weather, a little time to write, a husband I couldn’t write a better version of, and this precious dog at my side:
And I am indeed grateful.
I am also grateful that my bestie has a prolific persimmon tree and each year, she shares the abundance of that tree with me:
Is there a more photogenic fruit than persimmons out there?! That plump little fruit body and its gorgeous color! It’s really a star wherever it goes–even the leaves of the trees fall off and make way for the stars of the show when it’s time to harvest these sweet little gems.
Turns out, they’re really good for you, too. They’re rich in Vitamins A, C and E; they’re also a good source of copper, B6 and Magnesium. And they’re loaded with fiber and antioxidants like beta-carotene, which may lower risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.
There are two types of persimmons–the Fuyu and the Hayashi. I have only ever worked with the Fuyu, which are quite sweet. The skin is entirely edible and in fact, a good source of fiber, so I try to do as little to them I can. I do find that because they are so sweet, that they benefit from a little hit of acid, which is why I like them in a salad with a nice vinaigrette, such as this persimmon, beet, fennel and blue cheese salad:
In this particular salad, I used beets as well as persimmons, but the persimmons are the stars, so beets could be left out if you want.
I hope to be able to publish another post before the holidays and I’m looking forward to a new season of beautiful winter produce.
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
