Autumn

The Indian summer days are over, so not only on paper has it come, but its everywhere - the air is crisp, the first frosts set in, leaves are starting to fall and cover the streets, people are wearing knittings and suede, the world is adjusting to autumn's saturated and earthy colour pallet. It is time of a very particular sensation, some kind of bitter-sweet melancholia, like what evening is for the day - time for reminiscence. The season of harvest and transition.

Apart from the flu (I am being a victim now) I love everything about autumn. It is time for long walks, cups of hot chocolate, pies and stews, pumpkins and apples,  golden-daisies and rowan-tree berries, ponchos and berets, cosy evenings at home crawling under the tartan blanket, reading a great, thick book or watching a nice movie. Yes, movies by the way - which is your autumn movie? Mine is "You've got Mail" for some reason (though it actually covers all the seasons but for me it is an autumn movie).

And speaking of stews, here is the recipe of a very tasty vegetable stew I made yesterday:

• carrots (approx.8)
• cabbage-head (medium size)
• potatoes (1 kg)
• canned green peas
• sweet cream (200 ml)
• flour (1 table spoon)

 (of course the proportions depend on the mouths you want to feed and you can always improvise with the ingredients)

So you chop carrots, put them in a pot and add some water (not too much, remember it is not a soup we are making), after a little while add the chopped cabbage-head and mix every once in a while so that it doesn't get burnt, add some more water if needed. When carrots and cabbage is almost done, add chopped potatoes and after a while peas. Don't forget to mix it and check the water level, add some salt, pepper if you want and some sugar to make the taste milder. When all the veggies are ready, pour the liquid from the pot into a bowl and add the flour and mix it well, then pour this liquid back in the stew and add the sweet cream. Mix it all in, keep on the range for a little more and your stew is ready. Healthy, tasty and rather light food.

So,  bon appetit, be inspired and enjoy this beautiful season!