Saffron

A lone Autumn crocus blooming in my entry way flower bed. See those lovely orange-red stigmas? This is a saffron crocus and it's dried stigmas like these that produce this pricey seasoning/coloring ingredient.

Saffron has a long, long history but is best known to me as an ingredient in Spanish cooking. I grew up in Tampa where Ybor City, the Latin Quarter, was the place to go for great food -- and arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) meant yellow rice, tinted with saffron and the less expensive anatto.

Seeing the saffron crocus blooming inspired this meal -- Yellow rice with black beans, fried tilapia and shrimp, roasted sweet potatoes with onions and cumin. And a green salad that didn't get in the photo. Apologies for the slightly out of focus picture -- it's a sin to let hot food go cold so I grab a shot and don't always take time to see if it was good. But the food was.

Columbus Day

Certainly nothing to celebrate -- but it might be a time for reflection . . .

Who are the illegal immigrants anyway?

For Want of a Tripod

 What do you suppose I was trying to capture in this photo? 

Reading YA

 YA is the publishing term for novels aimed at Young Adults -- though in actuality, the age range of the readers is fairly elastic -- from preteen to early twenties -- or, in my case, late sixties.  The protagonists, however, are almost always in their late teens and the story is often that of a coming of age.


Recently I've been wandering in this genre. Jo Walton's Among Others is a quietly charming novel about Mori,  a young girl who has run away from her mother in Wales to England and the father she hardly knows. Set apart from others at her boarding school because of a crippled leg, she spends much time reading -- and a great part of my enjoyment of this books was that she reads many of my childhood favorites.


Oh,  and Mori's mother is a witch - an evil one -- and Mori herself can do magic and . . . well, there's a detailed review HERE. I really loved this book

 

 Another YA that I recently enjoyed is Lev Grossman's  The Magicians. It's a kind of  American and more grown up  Harry Potter and there is, I might warn you, Language, as well as Adult Situations. (Not surprising for this late teen, early twenties age group.) I also caught quite a few nods to Narnia. This is another fantasy meets real life. I was completely engaged by the characters and would like to read a sequel. 

Not a YA,  Live Wire is the tenth in Coben's  NYT bestselling Myron Bolitar series.  I've written here before of my total fascination with this wise-cracking, sweetheart of a protagonist as well as his psychotic preppy ninja sidekick, Win. (In this outing Win has two Asian girlfriends, named Mee and Yu, affording the opportunity for a lot of punning.)

And there's another new character -- Myron's nephew Mickey. He's a wonderful, conflicted teen with serious family issues. All of which makes him perfect to be the protag of his own YA novel. 

Shelter, with Mickey in the starring role, is just out. I haven't read it yet but I will, I will!
  

A Mixed Bag of Autumn

Oak leaves. . .

Sweet potatoes . . .

I wish I could remember what the name of this exuberant rose is ...

Sweet potatoes curing in the sun to toughen their skins for storage . . .

There are more to dig . . .

And back to the oak leaves

and that rose. . .

Getting a Little Political

Yesterday evening as I was grabbing a quick sandwich before my class, I met a woman who'd just come from Asheville's own local version of Occupy Wall Street Protest.  She said she'd decided to lend her support for a few hours before her own class started.

This is an interesting thing that's happening. I have to agree that the corporations have had it all their own way recently -- putting short term profits before environmental and/or human concerns  And as for considering a corporation a person? -- as someone said on Facebook, I'll believe it when Texas or Alabama executes one.

Praise for Ordinary Things

I love my hard-working Felco pruning shears (or secateurs as some of you call them.)  They always go to the garden with me. Along with pruning branches or cutting flowers, I sometimes use them to dig a little hole, if I've  inadvertently uprooted a seedling and don't have my trowel handy. Or they're useful in hoicking out the occasional deep-rooted  weed.

Small wonder if the abused Felcos get a little gummed up and don't open and close smoothly.

I also love WD-40 oil. It makes those pruners work like new.

Fall Feast

On Sunday I was in Cedar Mountain, near Brevard, NC

and I was charmed by these beautiful birds

feasting on the ripe pyracantha berries.

They're not a bird that I see around our place. . .

A look at the bird book suggests they might be Cedar Waxwings . . .

Do any of you know for sure?

What's That?

Close up...

And far off...

If you don't know, the answer is HERE.

Persimmons

The wild persimmons are ripening . . .

 

Tempting, tasty, and, alas. . .tiny . . .

(Garlic head for size reference)

But coons and possums will eat their fill.

And Now...October

My monthly newsletter The Goodweather Report  is up HERE, full of book talk and chat about the upcoming release of UNDER THE SKIN.

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