26 October Wednesday

I remember it well. Going to the grocery store on a Saturday morning with my mom and brother. She’d have a large stack of coupons in her pocketbook, and we’d sift through them looking for deals. I miss that we don’t still have this simple system. It seemed to me to be a treasure hunt for grown-ups. First, you had to find the coupon, then the store, then the object pictorially represented on the coupon. By the time you loaded the car, you felt weightless and exhilarated having completed the experience and saved twenty three cents on a box of Rice Chex.

I find our new system somewhat less reliable as the following story illustrates. It requires being involved in a program like Amazon Prime which entitles you to deeper discounts at Whole Foods for a flat annual membership. There is something similar at Safeway with no fee for the card. My favorite grocery store, Gus’s Community Market has no such thing but they do offer deals and sales for all.

Today, I went to the Farmer’s Market at Civic Center and got beautiful persimmons, carrots, butternut squash, Brussels Sprouts, celery, onions and Eureka lemons, fresh off the tree. And yes, some of the most delicious freshly harvested walnuts. If you don’t like walnuts, it’s because you haven’t eaten these. Oh yes, some freshly foraged Cinnamon Cap and Trumpet mushrooms. They’re were a few tomatoes, green peppers, and the like, but the root vegetables, the mushrooms, apples and fall fruit were in the center of the table. Also, weirder lettuce like frisee and some a that kinda thing were laying about. The bounty, the sunshine, the friendly vendors, such a pleasant experience.

I made my way home and needed to do another shop run to get butter, milk, and a few other staples. A quick review of the Whole Foods website indicated what was on sale at the shop I was going to. I go on the bus, and rode to the nearest outlet. They had all the things I wanted, but they were not on sale. They were the same price or more than the regular price at Gus’s. No savings for Benji! Unless, of course, I don’t buy anything here. So, I left Whole Foods, walked to Gus’s where everything I wanted was on sale, so I got all my food for less. End of story.

I’m sorry dear reader, I do value your time.I realize that story was kind of a dud. I’m sorry I’m not addressing the real elephant in the room, that anxiety we’re all feeling, the slight dreaded despair that revolves around our insecurities regarding persimmons. Persimmons.

Some are flat, some are round, some are pale yellow, some are deep orange, some soften, some remain firm. Some are intended to be eaten raw on salads, some are intended to be baked in desserts, especially Persimmon Pudding, which is a treasured dish in the Hoosier state, and one that many will defend vehemently. For instance, the New York Times once published a recipe for the pudding with Fuyus, a flatter variety that is often used in salads. The response was swift and merciless. Those high falutin’ New York foodies don’t know anything about Indiana Persimmon Pudding! You make it with what they call American Persimmons, by which I think they mean the persimmon called Hachiya, at least here on the West Coast.

Those are Hachiya persimmons. They go by a variety of different names, or there are more particular varietals, like Coffee Cake persimmons, which look exactly like those pictured above. At any rate, they need to soften. They go in pudding. I’ll give them a few days to get soft, then I’ll show ya’ll the glorious thing that is Persimmon Pudding.

I picked up a chicken, both to roast and make stock cause the freezer’s bare. I also got another piece of beef cause is it was still on sale. That’s an easy week’s eating. I have been having oatmeal with homemade apple sauce swirled in for breakfast, delicious.

I haven’t stopped thinking of Roy Andries de Groot. His book is still in my bag, I’m going to make his mushroom soup and spiced pot roast on Saturday. It’s a good time to be alive, which means it’s a good time to eat. Thanksgiving is not far away from a gourmet’s perspective. What will it be this year? Turkey, yes. But will it be a roulade of turkey breast? Will I get a whole and smaller bird? I don’t cook or serve enough sweet potatoes, so that’s definitely on the menu. I read somewhere recently that cranberry sauce is out, and jello molds are in. I’ve never made a jello thing, though both of my grandmothers made them for the holidays. My mom’s mom made a red one with strawberries and Cool-Whip on top. The tradition was that she forgot about it in the fridge till halfway through the meal. My dad’s mom made a green one that I never, ever put in my mouth. It had pimento stuffed olives in it! It was probably good, but I have never been a big fan of jello, especially as part of the main course of a meal.

I have finally learned to love pumpkin pie. When I was a kid, I didn’t like it or understand why such a colorful meal was concluded with a deep beige plop of sadness. Then, the pumpkin raisin tart appeared in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. My pumpkin pie life was changed forever. Tangy cream cheese with raisins, pumpkin pie filling on top, crushed walnuts on the bottom crust, I almost forgot. Now, this is a pie worth eating. I’ve made it most years since then, every once in a while I swap out with pumpkin cheesecake, or even a regular pumpkin pie which I now enjoy eating. I will make the tart this year.

Speaking of pumpkin, I am going to try something new this weekend. I am going to make pumpkin bread, slice it, let it dry out, and make chocolate chip pumpkin bread pudding with it. Another thing to which age has softened me-chocolate chips in bread pudding. Now, I am still a purist at heart, loving the traditional dried fruit laden custardy bread pudding well inebriated with whiskey butter. But there is a more wholesome, American seeming version with no booze or fruit and with chocolate chips added. A friend brought one over to my first apartment in San Francisco fifteen years ago, and I still remember it because I shared my skepticism then, and withdrew it after the first bite. Yes, of course, chocolate does improve most things.

Tonight’s dinner was a simple one- grilled cheese sandwich with a farmer’s market salad and fresh vinaigrette. There still is time to dream. There are dishes in the sink. Looking ahead, attending to now. Bringing the past to the present, that is what the season of remembrance, the season of the harvest is all about. Who would have guessed the little seeds we planted what seemed so long ago would come to such great bounty?