October: Spice Month

And no, I don't mean pumpkin spice. I'll leave that to Trader Joe's (where one of the clerks told me that a staff joke is that even pumpkin spice toilet paper would sell out fast -- if they stocked it). Admittedly, I'm not really a fan of pumpkin spice, especially its ubiquitous presence in so many foods in October. I'll take Halloween candy instead, thank you.

In my kitchen in October, I've had lots and lots of herbs and spices other than pumpkin spice. I also bought an intriguing book titled Herbs and Spices: The Pursuit of Flavor, edited by the food writer Waverley Root in 1980. Root offered a selection of articles by various writers on recognizing, growing, using, and enjoying spices -- especially a couple by Paula Wolfert, a cookbook writer I'm fond of. And of course we have Halloween candy.

The last garden herbs.

Just a few more left in the pots, which are now put away.

Drying the herbs in my pantry. You can see one of my Mona Lisa mugs behind them.

Several predictions of frost pressed me to harvest the spices in my garden. The expected frosts did not happen, and each time, the plants sprouted a few more aromatic leaves. Now we have gathered all that we want, and have put away the flower pots for the season.

New Penzey's Spices and more.

My shipment of 6 jars of spice from Penzey's: ground cardamom, celery seed,
peppercorns, tarragon, and fennel seed. And a free packet of pepper mixture.

I had a good reason to order spice from Penzeys: their owner is running an ad campaign to encourage people to support impeachment, and to communicate their support to their congressmen and senators. First Penzey's received quite a lot of publisity because they spent more in one week on pro-impeachment ads on Facebook than all but one other advertiser. The next weekend, Penzey's offered to use all proceeds from new customers to buy more ads encouraging impeachment. That's when I put in my order!

As the New York Times said: "Penzeys Spices, a family-owned company in Wauwatosa, spent nearly $92,000 on Facebook advertisements related to impeachment from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, according to data from a communications agency that tracks political spending.  (That was eclipsed by Mr. Trump and his campaign, which spent more than $700,000.)" (Source: New York Times, October 11, 2019).

And from amazon.com: a new jar of Ras El Hanout.
From Trader Joe's: pepper in its own grinder.
I had used up my previous supplies of these spices.

It's also Cauliflower Cheese Month.

A comfort food recommended by bloggers around the world!
This is my dish of cauliflower with white sauce and cheese topping.

Inspired by Johanna at the GGG Blog from Australia, I steamed a locally grown and purchased cauliflower and made what I call cauliflower au gratin, and what British-origin bloggers call cauliflower cheese. Johanna's post showed pasties filled with cauliflower in cheese sauce, with a list of her many ways to make cauliflower cheese. The blogger at The Veg Hog, who identifies as a "vegetarian hobby cook and urban gardener born in Finland, currently living in Denmark," also made this dish in October. I wonder how many others around the world are making this dish!

And in my kitchen: Halloween, best holiday of the year!

What trick-or-treaters will get when they come to our door.
Note that I did find some Kit Kat with glow-in-the-dark wrappers!

At the end of each month, I write up what's been happening in my kitchen and share it with like-minded bloggers on Sherry's website: http://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/ -- check this site for links to lots of kitchen blogs, titled "In My Kitchen" or IMK.

The IMK logo.

All photos and text here are copyright © 2019 by Mae Sander for mae's food blog, 

hosted at Google's blogspot dot com. 

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