First Monday in October, with temps in the 70s!

When you believe every day is a gift, but then the day arrives with filtered sunshine, a breeze from the south, and temps in the mid-70s instead of the clouds, rain and misery that was predicted, you can't help but think your gift that is today came from Tiffany's.

Needless to say, it's hard to stay inside when the days to enjoy outdoor activities are numbered. So outside I drifted, camera in hand, to capture some scenes from the surrounding landscape.

The rose bush giving October blooms.
The vineyard remaining weed free.

One woman's weed is another's ornamental grass, bowing to wind.

Sumac signaling the season.

And new windows in the granary. Some of us around here (hubby)
are more productive than others (me).

Getting creative in the kitchen...

If you spend enough time in the kitchen, you come to understand that baking is a science while cooking is an art. This maxim was driven home to me when I tried to adapt some favorite family recipes that included flour to our family’s new, gluten-free reality.

Gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, is what gives elasticity (airiness) to baked goods such as cakes and bread. A quick turn to a variety of gluten-free flours, meanwhile, taught me one tough (and expensive) lesson: not all flours are created equal.

I also learned that to effectively bake without gluten, one must acquire a product called Xanthum Gum (pictured). I was met with a blank stare at the grocery when I asked a stockboy to direct me to Xanthum Gum. “What is it?” he asked me.

“I’m not sure,” I responded. “But I need some.”

I eventually found it, yet to this day I can’t honestly explain to you what Xanthum Gum is, or from which plant (or animal) it might be derived. I just know you’ve got to have it if you stand a chance of emerging from the kitchen with an edible baked good. I tried baking with Xanthum Gum and Rice and Bean flour once, but gave up, turning instead to the GF delicacy’s found at the Madwoman Bakery on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. Mine was a weak effort to conquer gluten-free cooking, I admit. And surrender proved costly. The teacakes and cupcakes at Madwoman, while tasting as authentic as their wheat-flour counterparts, are tres spendy. And the budget ain’t what it used to be.

But like I said at the top of this post, baking is a science. And falling within the sciences is that all important discipline we call economics. In order to maintain one’s will to live in a gluten-free world, one must include the occasional baked good in one’s diet, no matter if the flour originates in rice, sorghum, teff, or (remarkably) beans. GF baking can be mastered in the home kitchen. All that’s required is persistence, and the creativity of one who understands the art inherent in good cooking.

And so I congratulate my soon-to-be student chef who took on the challenge of adapting a 70-year-old family recipe for Polish Potato Dumplings, a dish so heavily laden in wheat flour you could use the dough to mortar a brick wall. He mixed, he grated, he used rice and sorghum flour, he adapted, he added water(!), and of course, he included Xanthum Gum.

The result? GF dumplings that taste just like the original. Crazy? (Grandma liked them too.)

Cooking is an art; baking is a science. GF baking, meanwhile, requires both approaches.

October brings thoughts of home...

Over the constant squacking of the black ducks, I detect the hum of a combine across the lake. It's time. Harvest.

Of course, it wasn't machinery to tip me off to what's obvious. We are weeks into a transformation of the countryside which brings a full palette of color within view. My favorite part of autumn is how the corn and soybean fields subtely fade from green to the auburn hue of late, which looks richest just after sunset. I linger with the colors of autumn because I know the monochrome season is long and arduous and not inspiring of deep thoughts.

Autumn is my favorite season; October, my favorite month. October is a month of painted landscapes and warm kitchens, of damp sunrises followed by dry sunsets and bright moons, of cuddly sweaters and slow walks through leaf-covered paths. October is our bridge from the carefree days of summer to the festive days ahead, the ones that call us back to our families for sharing, for giving thanks, for giving praise. And counting our blessings.

I count October as a blessing. All thirty-one days of it.

Is Armageddon at hand?

Fall. Dive. Plunge. Plummet. All are verbs used in headlines today to describe the stock market after the bailout failed to win Congressional approval.

Fall doesn’t quite work for me because it implies some sort of accident was involved.

Dive doesn’t quite fit either because the action calls to mind grace and control. Recall the recent Olympic Games and the finesse of those pool-bound athlete divers. See my point?

Plunge is better because the action conjures something forceful prompting downward movement. (Greed for instance.)

Plummet. Now there’s an action verb. This is a verb I’d prefer to use to describe an aviation disaster, the kind when one has a mere minute or two to settle up with the Almighty, and then… . If one were to think of "plummet" in this context, it becomes logical also to plug the word into a headline to describe today's events. After all, when it comes time to "take stock," it seems we ought to be thinking Heaven, not investment portfolio.

Of all the tools one can use to stir emotion, language is my favorite. Now excuse me, please, while I gather all my gold in a safe place and inventory my pantry.