the arugula files

It's Decorative Gourd Season! Pumpkins, Apple Picking, Donuts, the Apple House, and a Recipe for Caramel Corn

What's your take in swearing in blog posts?  Sometimes I really want to throw some F-bombs out there, but I wimp out.  My mom reads this blog!

The thing is that sometimes swearing is really funny.  Take this McSweeney's article,  "IT’S DECORATIVE GOURD SEASON, MOTHER*******."  Decorative gourds mean fall, as the article hilariously notes.  I've held off on welcoming fall until this last week.  I've been strolling around town in sandals, mostly tightless--in denial, really.  

Time for apple picking, pumpkins, our annual trip to the Apple Donut House, and, bonus!, a recipe for caramel corn.  

This sh*t is going to be so seasonal.

Tomatillos, the Fresh New Vegetable (Plus Grilled Tomatillo Salsa Verde)

This is going to sound deeply superficial and shallow, but sometimes I buy fruit and vegetables based on looks.   It's a blogger thing, I guess. We all drink out of striped straws and like the look of fuchsia carrots.

Sometimes it feels a little ridiculous, like I'm a skeevy model scout, looking for the fresh new vegetable.  I like an exotic, unusual look, purple and green are my favorite skin tones to shoot.  So when these tomatillos showed up in my CSA, I wasn't thinking about what they would taste like, I was thinking, YES, I'm going to make you a star!

Learn How to Fry Okra from a New Englander?

The other day someone referred to me as a southern gal. I almost spit my diet coke out across the room. What? No slight against southerners intended, but I just had never thought of myself in that way.  

I'm a New Englander.

I'm not one of those Northern elitists, either.  I count myself as a New Englander not because I think I'm better than southerners, but because I like my ocean the same way I like my beer: cold.  When it comes to shellfish, lobster reigns supreme. I like to transition to sweaters at night in the summer. Fall is my favorite season; apple picking my favorite pastime.  I have a soft spot for Ben Affleck.  I am an Italian-Irish American!  I am nostalgic about snowstorms, and, during the winter, I am constantly rooting for more.  AND I can ice skate.