Travels of the Mind, Body, and Palate

Last weekend I scrambled desperately to reach the top of my workload, and Matt and I rented a car and drove to Quebec City, chasing oranges and reds and yellows the whole way up until Fall was undisputedly in its full glory. We were going to meet up with our Boston friends (now Ottawa friends) Marie and Jamie. If you've been reading this blog for a while you've seen their faces many times before.






Here are some more photos from the trip.

Yesterday, after shooting a little event at Community Servings' new location, I stayed in JP while Melissa and Georgia went shopping and made dinner. They just moved into a new house with a huge kitchen and separate dining room, and even got a piano to fill up some of the space and add warmth.



While I'm not particularly culinary-inclined myself, I've been especially inspired lately by blogs like twelve22 and, subsequently, port2port. So here are a few images from their incredibly autumnal dinner of pork chops with apples and onions, kale, and baked pumpkin squash with butter and brown sugar. For an appetizer Georgia roasted the seeds I'd extracted from the pumpkin squash in soy sauce and some other ingredient that escapes me.









I am lucky that people like these not only feed me, but let me sit around and take pictures while they cook. Makes a very happy Jessie.

Matt has been up to here in the books.



When he needs a break he practices his track stands in the livingroomkitchen.



On Friday, giddy at the prospect of an afternoon and evening free, we went to our beloved Cafe Sushi, and then set out into the city to get those red bean paste filled sesame balls from a bakery in Chinatown. Because we live in the city, because the world is at our fingertips, because we can think of anything we could possibly want for dessert and go out and get it just like that.


All hinging on the theory that the MBTA works like it's supposed to, which of course I'd forgotten it does not. We skipped down to Central and waited on the platform while three trains went in the other direction, but we were still smiling. The platform filled up with people, and finally we heard a train coming our way - but with a toot of the horn, it flew on by without stopping. An announcer told us through thick static that the train was running with delays, as if it wasn't obvious. Finally a fully-packed train pulled up and we managed to squeeze our way inside, determined to stay in good moods. At least we were on the damn thing.

Twenty minutes later, after sitting unmoving just inside the tunnel practically cheek to cheek with the other passengers and after getting word that there was both a disabled train and "police activity" at the stop ahead, and after waiting to move for 15 minutes and then finally not moving ahead but backwards into Central where the doors (begrudgingly, it seemed) opened and let us fall out, we slumped back home and drank a bottle of wine and watched a movie. Chinatown is more elusive than I thought. Good thing I like staying in.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know my other news....



...my friend Johanna had a baby!




(Did I scare you? Come on. I better not have.)

Johanna's little baby is named William Zeriah, and after a brief stay in the hospital in Boston, he finally got to go home with mommy and daddy. It was pretty special to see her with him... she's my first close friend to have a baby, and it was a little foreign, I have to say. Fortunately, it's so natural on her and she makes such a wonderful mom already that I think I'll get used to it pretty quickly. I can't wait to go visit again.