With a cloud layer coming in and a breeze kicking up off and on, I still managed to wear shorts and not get cold when I toured the park.

We focused our Friday Night menu on the vacuum-packaged pot roast from TJs (really delish), with the rest of the dishes assembled by us. Accompanied by broc/cauli combo, a nice tossed salad with radishes, white taters (boiled, steamy-hot). Oh, yum.

Meal leavened by Jon Stewart and John Hodgman, tivoed (essentially, but without Tivo) from…was it yesterday?

In which…

…I discover during a visit to a nearby clinic (accompanying a friend with a hurt–not broken—ankle who could not drive) that they take walk-ins in the morning and make appointments for the afternoon.

…I make an edamame dip pretty much following the recipe (NYT from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/dining/edamame-dip-with-red-onion-and-sesame-oil-recipe.html) when I should have followed my instincts and adjusted the ingredients. (As in: boil edamame about 6 minutes, drain and stop cooking with ice water; less onion, maybe lime instead of lemon, that kind of thing…).

(For starters.)

And we got a bottle of Planeta La Segreta (a white) at this liquor store (aka Ansley Wine) that I’d never had before and it was…um-um-good. Planeta is a major winery in Sicily…that we did not visit while we were there last May. Should we plan on another Sicily trip that includes winery visits? Hmm-hmm???

This statue is standing on a cube labeled Jack Daniel. I’m not sure what the rainbow mustache means.

UPDATE: chili essay related to yesterday’s chili (and today’s leftovers) added to Food Fun as a wordy recipe….

It really wasn’t chilly today (a tad over 50°F when I went for grocs), but it was rainy and I deemed it a chili day. Even before I saw another pot of my chili (resurrected from a Guru archive) over on nancynall.com.

I’m not sure why a pineapple. Except maybe that they’re not native to anyplace I’ve set foot (they’re from South America, according to WikiPee—and I did not recall even that).

Carol, the wonderous baker, made her superb muffins today—buttermilk, flax, walnuts, oat bran, and a huge variety of other nutritious ingredients lovingly blended to create the tastiest moooofins.

Bench lichen from ABG on Sunday….

Most exciting event today: making bourbon balls with TH. I used the food processor to reduce a total of eight boxes of vanilla wafers (but not nilla) to crumbs, four for us and four for TH. We both just fully processed half, so there’s another rolling stint ahead of us….

It’s nasty windy outside, with a shockingly cold edginess we haven’t experienced since last winter. Brr. We are lucky, however—preparing to dine with friends in a house extra-warmed by the oven…key lime pie for dessert!

That is, I love watching them fall, but here in the city leaves on the ground gotta be “in the right place.” At least ultimately.

When we walked to TJs (although these jars are from WF), I shuffled through the leaves caught against the low wall bordering the sidewalk. With glee!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

John took the backyard and I focused on the front, and now we’re not so leafy. John took the motorized option, and used the mower to shred the leaves and blow the shreds onto the ivy. I used the shovel to deconstruct the veggie bed, and the rake to re-situate leaves.

Not the complete autumn lockdown, but big strides….