First of the month musings . . .

"The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze."
- John Updike, September

I don't know how it happened, but here we are sitting on the first day of September! It's one of my favourite months of the year. When I was a child, it was because school was starting and I would be so very excited about that. The summer months always seemed so long and I would be quite bored by the end of them. The thought of going back to school seemed so wonderful to me. I'd always have a new pair of shoes to wear and a brand new pencil case sitting just chock full of new pencils and such, it's crammed insides smelling of new wood and graphite. With any luck there'd be some new coloured pencils as well, and a new book bag, although not always . . .



I love the autumn. It is my favourite season, with it's colours and smells, and cooler nights . . . As a menopausal woman, one can never underestimate the value of cooler nights!

We took a long walk through the orchards after supper last night down to the next village and the tell tale signs of autumn were all around us.



Hedgerows filled with ripening sloes and prickly branches filled with brambles, or blackberries as you may know them. The ground underfoot was all knobbly and crackling with drying acorns, having fallen from the Oak trees that line the hedgerows, and off in the distance we could see rabbits running to hide in the bushes at our approach. Jess loves this time of year as well as she gives chase every few minutes . . . a race she cannot win, but tries to anyways . . .



The air was filled with autumnal smells . . . Autumn has a special smell . . . drying leaves, ripening fruit, waning sunlight . . . and there is a special feeling in the air as it begins to crisp up. We still get the warm temperatures and the sunny days in September, but that breeze has lost it's warmth and begins to blow a chill . . .



The Orchard rows are lined with apple boxes and ladders, all in readiness for the harvest which will shortly be starting, and we have noticed the apple pickers walking the roadways into town each time we drive down the hill to do a shop. We mostly get polish pickers here and the local grocery store is filled with them, wandering up and down the aisle taking in all that must seem very foreign and unusual to them . . . muttering away in their foreign sounding words to each other. I am sure they are saying how very expensive everything is . . . and they would be right as the only local shop we have is Waitrose, which is one of the dearest ones around, although very good as far as quality goes. I am rather spoilt now when it comes to fresh fruit, vegetables and meat . . .



We are getting more wasps in the house these days. I hate the darn things and they are small and aggressive. It's just another sign of ripening fruit and the windfalls that lay rotting on the ground beneath the trees. We pick as many good ones as we can use, but, even we can't use up the hundreds that lay there. Back home the deer would be making good use of them, but we have none here, only foxes and I expect even they are overwhelmed by the amount that lay there.



It seems odd to look out over the abandoned golf course and see waving fields of brown and golden grasses, where once lay manicured hills of green. Dotted with the seed blown heads of bundles of wild flowers and thistle, it creates it's own picture of beauty, and the promise of summers to come within each fluffy golden head.

Ahh . . . September . . . only one month a year, but I do love it so . . .



This is the perfect supper for those nice autumnal days when you have gone out for a nice walk in that wonderful crisp air. Pop the potatoes into the oven before you go and supper will be close to ready by the time you get back. It's also the perfect meal to feed those hungry kiddies when they get in from school, all starving and wanting their tea now!



*Chili Stuffed Jacket Potatoes*
Serves 2 to 4, depending on how hungry you are
Printable Recipe

This is the perfect dish for when you are tired and lacking in energy and inspiration. I suppose you could just bake the potatoes and top them with the chili, but then why not go just a little bit further and make something just a tad bit more exciting!

2 large baking potatoes
1 (410g) tin of chili con carne (I use Stagg, which is very good and meaty)
1/2 cup cheese and spring onion dip (from the chiller cabinet at the store)
1/2 cup grated Red Leicester Cheese (You could use any strong cheddar or even Monterrey Jack cheese,
I used Red Leicester as it was what was to hand)

Pre-heat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Wash and dry the baking potatoes really well. Pierce them with a fork in several places and then place them into the heated oven, directly on the oven rack and roast them for about 45 minutes to an hour, until they are tender to the touch and nicely crisped on the outside.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes. Once you can handle them without burning your fingers, carefully slice them in half lengthwise with a very sharp knife. (I often hold them with an oven glove to do this, as I like the insides to be still fairly warm when I remove them.) Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the potato flesh, leaving a thin potato shell. Try very hard not to tear the skins.

Empty the chili into a saucepan and heat it to a simmer over medium heat, stirring it once in a while to keep it from sticking.

While the chili is heating, mash the potato that you have taken out very well with a fork and then beat in the cheese and onion dip.

Place the potato shells into a shallow casserole dish. Spoon some heated chili into each one, dividing it equally amongst them. Top each with a healthy spoonful of the mashed potato mixture, mounding it up on top of each one. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over top and then bang the whole thing back into the oven for another 15 minutes or so, until they are nicely browned on top and heated well through.

I like to serve these with a tossed salad and some steamed broccoli on the side.



Here's another tasty dish the kiddies will love . . . okay, so you'll love it too. Once a while it's ok to indulge . . . Pop on over to The English Kitchen to see what I'm on about!

Back tomorrow with that tasty pandowdy I've been banging on about! (I promise!)