michaelmas

we celebrate michaelmas each year by preparing a harvest loaf and telling a story which i found years ago in the book all year round.

 we set out sugar and salt, currants, an egg yolk, sesame seeds, and the warm milk and sugar that is mixed with yeast.

after reading the story together, chanda kneaded the bread and set it in a clean, oiled bowl to rise for about forty minutes. then she punched it down and kneaded one more time. it sat until dinnertime, when i baked it for an hour. we had it with a butternut squash/apple soup (the same one our friend sacha made when we visited her and her family in brooklyn about two weeks ago).

the harvest loaf story talks about having courage to face the dragon, and sharing meals with family and friends to warm our hearts and face the coming cold and dark of winter.

 it's now dark again at night when we sit down to dinner at 7:30 pm. i miss the summer sun . .

but i prefer the cool crisp autumn nights to any heat or humidity that sometimes creeps in. i like the rhythm of the autumn holidays, and it's sometimes difficult when the weather changes so drastically and puts one off balance.