Pumpkin & Pomegranate

It’s official! It’s Fall! So for any of you who celebrate the equinox, I wish you a happy one! I took a rather blissful walk last night celebrating the change in season, and took a few photos along the way (sorry, it was dusk and the light was not working with me). I walked down to my friend’s house (the one with the fabulous garden, chickens, goats, etc.), and on his street there is this gorgeous dahlia garden…

I wish my yard balcony got more sun! I also wish I had more of a green thumb, but while I inherited my father’s knack for cooking, intuitively understanding plants is not one of my strong points. I tend to over love them with the wet stuff ;-)

This whole area is quite lovely. I live just outside of Seattle, and there are plenty of people who shun the suburbs, and yes I often wish I lived IN the city, but this area has a lot to offer. The yards are big, it’s quiet, and people can have animals, huge produce gardens…It’s a toss up for me. I guess.

Another friend in the neighborhood (who I met while walking), has a stunning orchard full of all sorts of fruit trees. From figs to kiwis. I cannot wait for the persimmons on this tree to change color!
Apparently the tree is quite striking in the fall after the first frost, when the leaves drop and it is left with bare branches and bright, pumpkin orange fruit dangling in the moonlight. I cannot wait! I wish I had a better camera to photograph these lovelies, but the experience, and my little point and shoot will have to be enough. Dave has joked about me setting up camp beneath the tree as there is apparently a persimmon poacher who gets almost every last juicy fruit before he and his wife ever get to taste any. This is sad to me, as they are more than happy to share a couple pieces of fruit, but they wish they could get some of their fruit for themselves!

This apple tree (which is pretty much too dark to see) is also in their garden. I plan on making a trip out to the country in the next month to get some really good apple photos, so this won’t be the only shot.

The walk was really nice, but we made it to my friend’s garden a bit late and my mother kept having to dance in front of the light so the sensor would respond and keep it on for my friend to harvest his vegetables for me.  We walked away with 3 bags full of tender collard greens, 2 kinds of kale, Chinese mustard spinach, rainbow chard, 3 habaneros, some red hot chile peppers, and a beautiful Kung Pao pepper. I cannot wait people, I am salivating just thinking about all that peppery goodness.

When I got home I baked a summer squash (no clue what kind it is, but it looks like a yellow and green speckled pumpkin), caramelized a small sweet onion with some virgin coconut oil, and added the super fresh rainbow chard to the pan. Sautéed that a bit, then when the squash was done I mixed those together and topped it off with vegan parm. Dinner!

Later I had my raw chocolate pudding and topped it with PBU and my own version, CBU (didn’t go as far as dream sauce this time, just did the cashews…and made it creamy with some unsweetened vanilla almond milk…but not as much almond milk as with PBU). I watched Mad Men and enjoyed my chocolate-nut nirvana.

For some reason I was craving prunes, so I had about 4 of them. Whatever. Oh also, I have been drinking this Stomach Ease tea from Yogi Teas, and I rather like it. I was hoping it would help with my gas pains as it has fennel in it. Might be helping things too, who knows, but it tastes good!

I have a friend visiting from Houston tomorrow, and I am SO excited to see her. She encompasses goodness and light and I adore her. She also has an extremely uplifting blog that never fails to raise my spirits.  I am taking the day off to spend with her, as well as to have my first visit with my naturopath and am REALLY looking forward to tomorrow!

For breakfast today I had basically the same thing as last night only I added 2 pastured eggs to it.

The chard is gorgeous!

Now I am having some calming tea, and am excitedly awaiting a call from my friend so we can set up a schedule for tomorrow.

I also have some really exciting news to share with you all, but I need to finalize things first! Have a wonderful day!!