September 2012
Bursts of warm colors
A mountainside palette
Warm days and cool nights
Thickly knit sweaters and scarves
Oddly shaped gourds and squashes
Scents of cinnamon from pine cones and brooms
Softly lit sunsets
Fall flavors…
These are just a few of the aspects I love about fall. Since I still tend to miss summer as it transitions, I hosted a brunch full of fall flavors to help myself embrace autumn.
Each brunch is such a happy reminder of the great people who surround me! In this case, the table hosted a green energy guru, a woodworker, an artist and community organizer, a writer, a bakery owner and activist, and a kite maker with a special delivery for me!
When it was time for round two of champagne, we discovered the second bottle to be quite frozen. We consequently discovered champagne slushees are a magical, magical beverage (though pouring requires some extra heft)!
Ushering in Autumn Menu
Red Kuri Squash & Chocolate Chip Cake w/ Bourbon Whipped Cream
Harvest “Nests”
Brown Sugar & Spice Apples
Black Forest Bacon
Tangerine Mimosas
Almond Milk Chai
(Recipes will follow in subsequent posts)
Yes, I said a kite maker was at the table. Deren brought me a kite made by a traditional Chinese kite maker (which my special one was quick to assemble)! My gift was a token for supporting her participatory art project called “Float” via Kickstarter.
Float is a participatory art/design/mapping project using air quality sensing kites. Through the poetics and playfulness of kite flying, Float sparks and initiates dialog on urban environmental health issues, and gives agency to city dwellers to map, record and engage actively in the monitoring of their environment.
I’ve long admired Deren’s ability to bridge art and technology in playful and meaningful ways (like this project that harvests the energy of kids), so pitching into this project was an easy choice, and I was honored to have her join the brunching table. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!
Fall colors, soft light, scents of cinnamon and squash, champagne and a table of friends…fall really wasn’t so difficult to embrace after all.