Grapes in September-October, capons October to November, what have I missed?
November-December is mincemeat season. My mother and aunt made their own once, with suet and beef. Gross. She said she’d never do it again so our best friends for the holiday season were Crosse & Blackwell, and Nonesuch, all sans beef and with the brandy. She did make some lovely mincemeat tarts.
A couple of years ago my brother, who lives in NYC in the middle of the best shops in the world, couldn’t find mincemeat. One purveyor told him he might have better luck in New Jersey, imagine that.
Then he took to the internet and looked up mincemeat and what came up? My blog, which he’d never read. Serves him right. I got on Amazon and sent two jars of mincemeat to my father, which was his holiday destination. And Dad had a jar on hand and had already made Mom’s mincemeat tarts.
Fate intervenes in mysterious ways. Ten years ago I found a glass I thought my now husband (nearly nine years now) might like in his new place, 1,000 feet away from mine. He had nothing but a colander in his kitchen. So I bought a box of the glasses, six in three sizes, and walked them 1/2 mile home. It nearly killed me.
As I thought he was at work I walked up the steps and left the glasses there, knowing they wouldn’t be stolen, then walked the rest of the way home. When I arrived home there was a note, “Home sick. Need to take an aspirin. Do you have a glass I can borrow?”
Hopefully my brother can read my blog and contact me on his new Mac, five years newer than mine. Oh, well. He doesn’t have my full-sized wireless keyboard, huge screen, speakers, trackball mouse, headphones and Skype.
See the capon entry for how to find one, also mincemeat. Dee
Cooking with Dee 