One day you wake up and you simply know that it is fall. There’s a crispness in the air somehow. It might be the exact same temperature and humidity as the day before, but nevertheless it feels like fall. That’s how I felt this Friday. It was followed by a drop in temperature on Saturday and a wonderful chilly night Sunday. It might not be sweater weather yet, but the overwhelming heat of this summer is past. Oh yes, my friends, the calendar may say fall doesn’t start until the 23^rd of September, but you and I know better: fall is here.

 

I don’t know why, but I like everything better in fall. Fall makes the world seem like a happier place. It could be that I think of falls as the beginning of the year. Sure, sure, I know that most people who don’t go with the year beginning on January 1^st (a stupid day for the year to start really, I mean, it’s the coldest part of winter.) would say that the beginning of the year is spring. But despite the fact that spring is the rebirth of the year, I think of fall as it’s beginning. It might be, as Julie Powell suggested in Julie and Julia, that this is a hold over from my school years when fall really meant something. But in any case, that is how I feel. Fall feels like a fresh start.

So, what’s so great about fall, well, the trees turn into living fireworks, you get to abandon those garish summer shades for natural earth tones, it’s fun to go jogging out of doors again, and best of all, you can make all those oven needing dishes that you’ve been missing all summer. I’m talking, baked squash, home-made macaroni and cheese, coq au vin, beef stew, chicken soup, and stuffed apples. I’m talking about the best foods you’re going to taste all year. And it starts now!

 

Actually, I started this weekend with a batch of baked apples and a baking dish full of homemake macaroni and cheese. The apples were a beta test, but the macaroni was tried and true and delicious. So delicious, in fact, that I don’t have a photo of the finished product. I meant to get my picture after it had finished cooling on the stove top, but by the time I got back into the kitchen it had already been served. There weren’t even enough leftovers to make two lunches for the next day.