Autumnal Saturday to end the week

Autumn's approaching. I'm not gonna lie: autumn is my favourite season and the longer it lasts, the better. Because winter is inevitable and I hate winter. Because it's a short season and - relatively speaking, mild - we're not really equipped for it. In our homes or wardrobes. So, I am going to happily swelter through the last of summer and relish autumn. For as long as they both last.

Friday pizza night and a good end to the week. Well, a good end to Friday. My week ends after the market...

We (I) have dreamed up a topping we both really enjoy - tatziki, slivers of bacon and onion (red is better...), so one of the pizzas is always this. If I have tzatziki. I tried a version of it with cottage cheese. It wasn't quite the same.

The other is more traditional. With a tomato base, peppers, olives and mushrooms topped with mozzarella and fresh oreganum. I cannot wait for Cecil to get me the crate of tomatoes he delivers each year. We're out of passata and although he's already asking me when I want them, I suspect I have at least a month to six weeks to wait.

Speaking of the market and the lengthening autumnal nights, this was what greeted me as I came downstairs to heat the oven for this week's bread.

Between coming downstairs and getting myself into the garden, the mostly pink skies had disappeared. The cloud, however, warned of the promised rain for the mearket. But before we left, had cleared.

In the jar this week, a Moroccan lentil salad (apricots, almonds, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and fresh parsley, mint and coriander - plantbased/vegan).

Two jars came home with us and will form the base for Monday's meat free supper.

As for the weather about which I was concerned yesterday: I made a decision based on my weather app. This time, AI was not very - intelligent - the showers arrived "ahead of schedule" so we had a very long two hours covering and uncovering wares (like soap) that don't like wet. We should have "gazebo-ed".

Was it worth it? Yes, it was much better than last week's dismal market. And, it seems, pre-Covid "normal" is beginning to establish itself: international visitors are back. I had Dutch, German, British and American customers. Today. That's the first time in about three years. So, despite the weather, it was good.

And a good end to my week, even though tidying up meant putting a lot of things out to dry first!

Until next time, be well
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma
Post script

If this post might seem familiar, it's because I'm doing two things:

• re-vamping old recipes. As I do this, I am adding them in a file format that you can download and print. If you download recipes, buy me a coffee. Or better yet, a glass of wine....?
• and "re-capturing" nearly two years' worth of posts.

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Original artwork: @artywink

• lastly, graphics are created using partly my own photographs, images available freely available on @hive.blog and Canva.