Now I know it’s autumn. I spent much of the golden afternoon wandering around between home and Elk Rapids taking pictures of golden fields and Stan Dawson’s vineyard and fat pumpkins, and it all looked so good that I came home and . . . cooked. I did that! I never do that! I forage, I slice and dice and pour dressing over the result. I munch on raw vegetables and guacamole and eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches for breakfast and scrambled eggs with bacon and salsa for dinner, and I occasionally broil a fish. I eat well, but, mark my words, I do not cook.
Except in autumn. Well, and every day of Rob the Firefighter’s growing up, as, believe it or not, we sat down to dinner as a family virtually every night of that entire lifetime. And you know what? He cooks! And the Lady Alicia cooks! And whenever I visit them they feed me such amazingly delicious food that it is a miracle I ever return home because I do not cook. I digress.
Tonight my house is filled with the fragrance of garlic and onion and thyme and cloves and tomatoes and a fine chuck roast cut by Sonny himself, all of it braising in apple cider with cherry juice in it. The dogs are on their very best behavior, hoping against hope. They have been so good that their hope will be rewarded. One wishes to encourage such goodness.
All this goodness does not come without effort, and sometimes it is easy to remember that we did the hard work and earned the reward, and be a little smug. It is harder to remember that we had help here and there: a kind word, an outreached hand, the enormous advantage of a good start. A little humility might be in order. In any case, there is plenty here to share. Enough, I think, for everyone. Here–have some nice pot roast.
Torch Lake Views 
La Mirada Bob
October 1, 2010
Thank you for inviting us to partake of such a delightful meal. We will be there in spirit and in our dreams.
Gerry
October 1, 2010
Judging by the amount of pot roast that was consumed around here I was thinking maybe you’d appeared in person, too–which is a happy thought. 🙂
Carsten
October 1, 2010
Your description almost materializes the fragrance over here.
Here is a major difference between us: I cook!
(I’ll try apple cider)
Gerry
October 1, 2010
I thought it was pretty funny that you would try a Cooking Tip from She Who Does Not Cook, but then I realized that anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I am fond of eating, and can be relied upon to steer a person to excellent treats.
The pot roast was really, really good. Apple cider and cherry juice are excellent braising liquids.
Bat
October 4, 2010
Tried using apple cider for cooking: Success!
For the shoulder of beef I used cider, thyme, rosemary, onions, garlic and instead of cherry juice : redcurrants. And waited three hours with increasing fragrance in the house.
Gerry
October 4, 2010
Nothing like adapting a recipe to include signature local foods! My grandmother used to have currant bushes. There are probably some around here. I believe I’ll look.
Gerry
October 1, 2010
And then P.J. Grath weighed in — or tried to, but had to send me an email instead. Here it is:
I was fretting about where you were and you were COOKING?! I can almost smell that pot roast, and the wind rarely blows from your side of the Bay to mine, so it must be your description. Time to smell the turning leaves, too. And the grapes on the vine and apples at the roadside stands. Would write more but must go eat something….
Pamela
Cindy Lou
October 1, 2010
Yummmmmm……we have old-fashioned pot roast and real mashed potatoes every Thursday at the restaurant where I work and have a number of folks that come every week for the tasty treat! Your descriptions and photos do indeed make the mouth water.
Love the grapes/vines photos……good wine grapes?
Gerry
October 1, 2010
Oh, Cindy Lou, you must work at a wonderful restaurant! There is one in Ellsworth–the Front Porch–where such good food is the rule. I love it. There is another in Elmira–I forget the name, but there are not so many restaurants there so it’s always easy to find! Anyway, they serve a swiss steak lunch with real mashed potatoes and–this is my favorite part–the potatoes are the lumpy kind. They are also very delicious, as they are dug within sight of the restaurant. Fine potato-growing territory over there. I flatter myself that my meat loat and mashed potatoes are really good. I might have to make that dinner while the cooking fit is still upon me.
As to Stan Dawson’s vineyard, it is in its infancy, and the jury is still out as to whether it will make excellent wines. For the time being, as I understand it, Stan’s grapes are blended with others and the tending of the vineyard is a work in progress. His is one of three I know of over here in Antrim County, where logic suggests we ought to be able to develop a wine region not unlike those on Old Mission and Leelanau, but it takes time. Meanwhile, it’s lovely to look at the vines and the grapes and think about what a nice thing it will be if it all pans out!
Molly
October 1, 2010
Oh, it looks delicious. And, truth is, I’m glad to hear you do not cook. It helps me to live in hope, as I am currently in the stage of family dinners every night — which I am so grateful for, but occasionally exhausted by. I aspire to not cook someday. 🙂
Gerry
October 1, 2010
That is a very good way to look at it, and it is true that it is a great relief to simply eat whatever a good rummage in the refrigerator manages to retrieve. Still . . . I encourage you to find a few things that you enjoy making and eating, so that when the “not having to cook every night” days come, you will still have something that you can do with your eyes closed, so to speak, something that will give you comfort on a day when it would be very good to put a nice meal on the table in front of yourself and anyone else you might care to invite to join you. There is no way to overestimate the restorative power of a good home-cooked meal served with kindness and affection.
One day soon there will be a balance between how much trouble it is to do the teaching and the cleaning up and how much joy it is to reach the results, and you can teach the children to make some meals. They will roll their eyes and say Aww, Mo-om, in that way they have, but in the end it will be a good thing, and they will be proud of themselves for being able to perform this particular sacrament.
Karma
October 1, 2010
Cooking.. a love/hate relationship. Love to eat, don’t mind cooking, hate cleaning up after it.
Those grapes look like the concords I just harvested and turned into jelly! I should really write a blog post about the experience – that was more than enough cooking for me in one day!
Your pot roast looks awfully tasty!
Gerry
October 1, 2010
I like to cook for a few well-loved friends’n’family, but not so much for myself. Don’t mind cleaning up when there are people to talk to–don’t care for it when it’s just the dogs, and all they want to hear is “Wanna go for a walk?”
I was thinking those grapes looked a lot like concords, too, but Stan wasn’t around to ask. I’ll get over there again before the harvest and find out more. You should write a post about the jelly making! I love that stuff.
That pot roast was delicious. No getting around it, when I finally decide to cook I have possibilities. Out of practice, though.
Cindy Lou
October 3, 2010
Our mashed taters are slightly lumpy, too! My friend/boss/owner/cook at the restaurant says “They’re damn near perfect!” Meat loaf? One of my favorite comfort foods!
Gerry
October 3, 2010
We are in complete culinary agreement.