Bake, Saute, Forage

Baked
Having received the bounty of undamaged ripe pears from my parents' backyard (thank you!), at first I waited. I indulged in a pear-chocolate hazelnut spread snack, but knew I needed to act on the other 3 pears-a-waiting before things got ugly. Enter convenient recipe.
Having bought poppy seeds on an impulse on my way back from Vermont, I now stood poised, wooden spoon at the ready, to make Whole Wheat Poppy Pear Loaf. I didn't have mini pans as the blog author does, so I made one big loaf, saved some for home, and again, contributed to the yumminess level at work.
Recommended.

Sauteed
As often happens when one bakes, there was a need for balancing out the sugar-butter concoctions with greenery. I was out of my favorite standby kale, but had branched out to what I think were mustard greens, but I'm not sure. Bought at the Bloomngdale Farmers' Market (so soon to close for the season! Boo!) from Snowbear Farm, I believe.

What I thought was really interesting here was the growth of little mini-leaves in the middle of the bigger expanse. It may be hard to see here, but they often came in pairs, on either side of the spine, like they had been pinned on. So fascinating, Nature... Anyway, so I shredded the alleged mustard leaves from their spines and used this recipe to guide me from Deborah Madison, whom I like a lot. I had cauliflower, I had greens, and I had potatoes, from my incursion further into the deep interior jungle of Scottish cooking (up next!)...

Some steaming involved, and sauteing...

La mise en place, bien sur...

The spices part (where hopefully I smell up the hallway, in a good way)...

And the greens part, where they all cook down to almost nothing...

Yum, very tasty and good texture. Added bonus: feeling virtuous and healthy.

Foraged

One chilly October night (I've had to turn on heat a few times), probably in the midst of reading, probably not having planned ahead as in the two instances above, I foraged in my kitchen for a picnic-type meal. I came up with leftover squash puree with pine nuts and parmesan, crusty bread, cheese slices, and chutney. Which is, sometimes, just what you need.

Added bonus: delight.