Category Archives: Autumn

Cooking with chanterelles – an autumn luxury and privilege

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I love mushrooms. They are one of my favorite foods on earth. The more irregular and funny looking they are, the more likely I am enamored by them and just want to find ways to cook with them and get them in my belly. Over the years, I’ve had so many delicious varieties of mushrooms. In Asian cooking, shiitake and enoki mushrooms are extremely common. Since graduating from college, I’ve been buying king oyster and trumpet mushrooms more regularly. And while I am obsessed with morel mushrooms, they are almost impossible to find…and when you do, quite cost prohibitive.

One mushroom that had remained on the “out of reach” list for ages were chanterelles, a rare, delicate, and difficult to cultivate mushroom. They cannot be commercially cultivated and can only be grown wild, thriving on tree roots. Chanterelle mushrooms form symbiotic, mycorrhizal relationships with tree roots in a way that is so complex that humans still have not figured out how to reproduce this in a controlled farm environment. And thus, every chanterelle mushroom anyone buys has been foraged by hand in the wild and not farmed. They also have a very short season that is usually late summer to fall, and their yield heavily depends on rainfall, temperature, and soil quality being at optimal levels.

Given this, it’s been pretty usual that if I go to Whole Foods or a fancier grocery store (regular grocery stores will rarely have chanterelles!) around September to October each year that I will see chanterelles being sold for anywhere from $28-50 per pound. While I have loved them and have enjoyed them in a couple tasting menus we’d indulged in, I never had the pleasure of cooking with them myself until during the pandemic. In 2020, we spotted them at a Costco for about $12-13/pound, and I obviously pounced on it. And then once again during our Costco trip this past Sunday, I got two pounds of them for the same cost. Sure, they’re expensive and are priced like fancy meat even at this far-cheaper price, but to me, chanterelles are worth it as a rare autumn treat.

Today, I made my chanterelles two ways: I seared and tossed them into a cashew-cream based sauce with short pasta, along with cannellini beans and baby bella mushrooms for extra protein and mushroominess; and for something I hadn’t previously done but wanted to do, I seared them and tossed fresh green herbs into them, adding them atop crusty Breadivore bordelaise sourdough and a generous pat of salted French butter. It was simple, delicious goodness. But once I finished cooking my two pounds of chanterelles down and looked at my final dishes, I looked down and sadly noted how much they shrank down in volume, just like all my greens, into just a teeny tiny fraction of what I originally started with. This is often why when people ask me how I can possibly eat all of <name whatever squash, vegetable, bag of greens at Costco>, I tell them that it always cooks down to far, far less than what you’d think. So while it looks like we bought a lot, we”ll likely get through it in just two meals each!

Lyman Orchards Corn Maze and a bi-annual Costco pitstop

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I don’t recall ever doing a corn maze during the fall growing up. I remember going to pumpkin patches, but the only corn maze I ever remember going to was out in Long Island in 2011 with some friends — at night. That corn maze was supposed to be spooky and “haunted,” and the only lights we had were via flashlights we were given or our own phones. Chris brought us to Lyman Orchards today in Middlefield, CT, for a corn maze and an apple stop. The theme was very fitting for us given what we’d recently eaten: it was Connecticut pizza themed! Kaia loved running through the corn maze and insisted on always going ahead of us and being first. She would also always squeal with high pitched delight every time she saw a corn on the cob that had its kernels peeking out. It was a really fun fall activity, and made even more fun by watching how happy and engaged Kaia was the whole time. Although I didn’t have a “bad” childhood, when I look at her and see how happy she is with all the experiences we’ve given her, it almost makes me relive my own childhood again just seeing how much joy she is experiencing. I love seeing her get excited about the leaves, the different seasons, and the different seasonal activities.

And of course, one last stop before we headed back to New York was at Costco! I loved the Costco experience in South Windsor, CT. Even though it was a Sunday, it wasn’t even remotely crowded. It actually felt quite quiet. There were barely any lines at checkout. The sample stations were quiet and not bombarded by endless hoards. The restroom was an easy in and out for us. And when we had a little lunch at the Costco food court, Chris easily got us a table and seats.

Here are some of the biggest highlights of what we discovered today:

Tim Tams (Australian formulation — WITH GOLDEN SYRUP ): Chris was very excited to see these, and of course, he added it to our cart to “tide him over” longer until he gets his Arnott’s haul replenished.

Kirkland Signature Belgian Chocolate Biscuit Cookie Tin: Chris’s favorite and present to himself each fall Costco trip we go on. 🙂

A WHOLE DUCK: For just over $16 grown at a farm in Indiana. I may finally use those duck class skills I learned a few years ago and get to work!

Wild chanterelle mushrooms: We haven’t scored these since the pandemic era. Chanterelles tend to grow in the fall and have a subtle but delicious earthy flavor. When they are in peak, they can go for anywhere from $28-50/pound, which is too much for me to stomach. I got two pounds of these babies today for $12.99/pound weeeee.

Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste: This brand always comes up in food forums I’m in where professional pastry chefs discuss products they love and absolutely need. I figured I’d never buy it because it was so expensive. But then Chris spotted it at Costco next to the vanilla extract and vanilla beans. I initially skimmed it over because I didn’t see the brand name. But when I did, I did a double take and scrutinized it to death, then Googled it to make sure this was the same product. A 10-ounce bottle of this magic was $19.99. For pricing reference, if you buy an 8-ounce bottle on Williams-Sonoma, it’s currently going for $47.95. What a deal! It’s best to use this product for baked goods where the vanilla flavor really needs to shine… and where you want to “see” the vanilla bean flecks.

Mrs. Meyers Hand Soap Combo Pack: Okay, so I’m kind of like Martha Stewart in that I do really like certain hand soaps over others, and Mrs. Meyers never fails. I almost got the same holiday scented set as last year until we came across the pack that includes the Tomato Vine scent, which I’d been curious about for a while because I’d read it had a near cult following!

We also got some good deals for clothes for Pookster, including a four-piece rainbow top and bottom set, a Minnie Mouse sweater, top, and pants set. And as the clothing section at Costco just keeps getting better and better, we also found some nice onesies that were Winnie the Pooh and Simba themed for some recent babies who have joined the family. It was a massive Costco haul this time, but I have zero doubt everything we got will go into good use (or into our bellies!).

More autumn leaves, Mark Twain House and Museum, and skeletons galore

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I’ve never been a big Halloween person. When I was young, I never got to have fun or elaborate costumes. I basically was a pumpkin for years on end because my parents didn’t care for Halloween, nor did they want to pay for us to have different costumes every year. But while I don’t really care for dressing up myself, I do love seeing other people’s Halloween decorations in front of their homes. In New York, we mostly see it when we go to the outer boroughs. Or in Manhattan, you can see a good amount of Halloween decorations at brownstones on the Upper West and Upper East Sides.

This trip, we’ve already seen endless massively large skeletons everywhere. Skeletons as tall as twenty feet have towered over people’s lawns. At March Farm where we stopped by for some apple cider donuts and photos so Kaia could frolic amongst the pumpkins, there was a huge tractor that had “run over” a skeleton. While we pointed this out to Kaia, she did not seem to mind much, as she was enjoying nibbling away at her first apple cider donut that she did not have to share.

During our coffee stop this morning before the Mark Twain House and Museum tour, we parked next to a car that had a skeleton in the front passenger seat. He had both his hands up… as well as his two middle fingers up! The Mark Twain House and Museum tour was fun and informative, though I will say that while the inside was quite elaborate that I enjoyed walking around its grounds just as much given all the fall foliage. It’s like the house was made to be flanked by these gorgeous autumn colors. The tour also kind of made me want to read Huckleberry Finn again… Maybe this time if I read it, I’ll do the audio version.

Maybe next year when Kaia has better fine motor skills, I’ll actually go get us a pumpkin that we can carve and light up — it will be Kaia’s first jack-o-lantern. Though I also did not do much of this growing up, when I’ve done this with friends or at work festivities, this has always been really fun and creative. Plus, there are so many tools available now that make pumpkin carving safe. It wouldn’t be like what my dad did when we were kids — he used an extremely dull (AND DANGEROUS) chef’s knife to cut poorly shaped triangles and squares to make a jack-o-lantern!

Long weekend in Connecticut for leaf peeping means tasty New England stops along the way

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Since Kaia’s first fall with us as a baby in October 2022, we’ve been doing a fall leaf peeping trip somewhere around the Northeast of the U.S. by car. The first year, we were based in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2023, we went to Springfield, Massachusetts, but unfortunately were a little too early given global warming; most of the trees were still pretty green. Then last year, we went upstate to Albany, New York, and the surrounds. We’ve found that we need to delay this trip to late October to see more of the vibrant autumn foliage. This trip was definitely timed perfectly: everywhere we drove, we saw so many brilliant shades of orange, goldenrod, and crimson.

Along the way, we stopped in Darien, Connecticut, to pick up some goodies from Flour Water Salt Bread, a local Connecticut bakery known for making every single item they have out of sourdough. When we popped in, I was pleasantly surprised to see generous baskets laid out on their counter of samples: vegan chocolate olive oil cake, pumpkin snickerdoodle, coffee cake, and chocolate chip cookie. This is nearly unheard of in New York City; if you want a sample, you can go ahead and fork over $5-9 for your desired pastry and “sample it” that way! Even their cookies are made with sourdough, which was quite shocking to me; I don’t know when the last time, if ever, I’d had a cookie made from sourdough! We settled on their sun-dried tomato focaccia (which Kaia picked almost all of the tomatoes off of to eat and left just the bread for us…), their salted caramel kouign amann, and a hefty loaf of their classic sourdough bread (made with ten percent upstate New York freshly milled flour).

After Flour Water Salt, we headed further north to New Haven, where we had lunch at Zuppardi’s Apizza. It is one of the well known New Haven pizza institutions, and it definitely lived up to its reputation: we had their signature tomato sauce pizza with mushrooms and homemade fennel sausage, plus their delicious white clam pizza. While I remember the other New Haven pizzas having a crispy and chewy crust, Zuppardi’s definitely seems to be more on the crispy, crunchy side, which I had no problem with and really enjoyed. I did notice that there did seem to be more sand residue on these clams than at Modern, which we went to last spring with Chris’s parents, but I guess that’s the “cost” of eating clams on white pizza.

It seems weird to say this, especially as someone who lives in New York City and loves New York City pizza, but in this very moment, white clam pizza is definitely my favorite pizza. Most people think of New York as the pizza capital of the U.S., but I may have to agree with a lot of these publications that say that maybe the real pizza capital of the U.S. is actually Connecticut! It’s rare to find white clam pizza in New York City, and if you do, it will inevitably be quite pricy. So while we are here, I’m thrilled to indulge and get my clams on pizza fix.

The mystical spice that is mace: a surprising source of floral and citrus fragrance

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Back in June 2023 while we were in Kerala, we went on spice tour that included looking at real spices being grown on a farm, including ones that are native to India or surrounding countries, such as cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace. I had seen the spice called mace noted in a number of Indian recipes before, particularly in garam masala blends, but it was usually marked as “optional” and not required. It piqued my interest, though, because I had actually not known what the spice mace was or what it looked like. I had heard of mace spray (NOT related, by the way), but the mace spice was not used in that defense spray (ha). Mace is native to the Banda Islands (also known as the Spice Islands) in Indonesia. It is, interestingly, the husk (or more correctly, the “aril”) of the spice nutmeg. Nutmeg is considered the seed of the tree, and mace is the aril, or a delicate, lace-like coating that envelops the seed. On the plant, it’s quite beautiful to look at (if you think plants are beautiful things, that is). During that trip, I decided to get a packet of mace arils. Since then, I’ve stored them in a dark cupboard away from heat, only removing a couple at a time to toast and grind immediately into my homemade garam masala blend.

For whatever reason, I never thought to grind it and smell it alone. Today, I finally did in preparation for my pumpkin spice blend that I was making. I knew I wanted this version to have mace in it. And wow, I was in for a real treat and surprise! The scent was not that surprising after I toasted the whole arils. But once I ground them in my spice grinder, I was completely blown away after I removed the lid and inhaled. The scent of the freshly toasted, ground mace was warm, sweet, floral, citrusy, almost with a minty undertone. I couldn’t get over how citrusy this ground mace smelled. It smelled absolutely nothing like nutmeg, which is far more woody, spicy, and earthy. I also loved the hue of the ground mace: it is this very pretty deep tan/pale orange. After I ground the mace and placed it into a small glass jar for storage, I couldn’t help but keep sniffing it. I just love this scent! I did buy this at a spice farm directly in India, so even though the mace arils are over two years old, you would never guess they were this old!

And to think it only took me almost 40 years to find out how unique and interesting this peculiar spice is!

Autumn in New York state is in full force now

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Growing up in California, I didn’t really know what autumn was. Fall was this nearly mythical, far-away concept that had no bearing on my life. While leaves did change color in San Francisco, it was usually from green into a sad beige or brown almost immediately. As a child, I was never exposed to the brilliant yellows, golds, bright, nearly fluorescent oranges, burgundy-reds, and even deep purples that you can see near in the Northeast of the U.S. Then, I went to Wellesley for college, in the heart of New England, and every fall once the new school year began, I was thrusted into all this endless and beautiful color. Although I am never that happy when the temperatures start cooling and the days get shorter, I always love the fall leaves and the changing colors right before my eyes every day.

Last year, we went to Springfield, Massachusetts, the first week of October in search of fall leaves, but alas, due to global warming, we came a bit too early. Everywhere we went, all we saw was green, and the locals told us that we’d be unlikely to see any autumn leaves until the end of the month. So, this year, Chris booked our fall long weekend trip for the last weekend of October, and this time, it’s in Albany, the state’s capital. And the timing was pretty spot on this year: all along the roads we drove on and everywhere we went, we saw the vibrant goldenrods, fiery burnt oranges, and deep crimsons that scream autumn.

On our way up to Albany, we stopped in the cute little town of Kingston at a well loved coffee/donut shop called Half Moon Rondout Cafe. They had a delicious variety of donuts, some of which are made to order. Here, we shared a pistachio honey latte, a pistachio bombolini (Italian style donut), a freshly churned out cinnamon sugar donut, and a slice of their signature and decadent chocolate babka. The latte had just enough pistachio flavor, the bombolini had a sweet nuttiness to it, and the fresh cinnamon sugar donut was deceptively light and airy while being not too sweet. The chocolate babka slice was clearly the star of the show, though, even with such delicious donuts. I couldn’t believe how much chocolate they had managed to pack into this slice, and all the layers of dough that just melded together and formed what is likely the richest babka we’ve ever enjoyed. I was tempted to get a whole babka loaf to bring home, but I decided that it would be a bit too gluttony of us given other delicious things we’d be eating on this trip. Every time we leave the city, I always marvel at the spacious cafes and the ample seating; not every cafe out there is packed to the brim with people on their laptops like in New York City.

We also visited the Emerson Kaleidoscope, which is supposed to be the world’s largest kaleidoscope. We did the kaleidoscope show, which lasted about ten minutes and required you to stand leaning on these back “rests.” You also have the option to lie or sit on the floor while looking up, which is what Kaia did. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you are 3 or 63, but if you like colors, kaleidoscopes would appeal to anyone at any age. Kaia seemed to enjoy it, as she didn’t fuss at all during the short show and was looking up the entire time.

Another highlight of today was visiting the Kleinke Dutch Farm, where Kaia got to see lots of farm animals (and even got bitten by a couple when she tried to fake-feed them…), touch lots of fresh pumpkins, and throw and kick in endless fallen leaves everywhere. While kicking and throwing leaves with her, I thought about how fun this was and how I wasn’t sure what I enjoyed more: seeing autumn colors and leaves, or hearing that lovely sound of them crunching under my feet. These are experiences I never got when I was little, but now, I get to be a kid again and enjoy all this with her together.

We had two notable meals today: a late lunch at the historic Olde English Pub, in a beautiful house that is one of the original buildings in Albany, constructed in 1736, previously called the Quackenbush House. There, we enjoyed maple roasted brussel sprouts, a buttery and belly-warming beef pot pie, and fish and chips; plus, dinner at Shwe Burmese Restaurant, where it felt like we were dining in someone’s house. The staff all seemed like family (and the kids even played with Kaia towards the end of the meal). We had Burmese tea (sweet, creamy, and strong, almost like Hong Kong style milk tea), tea leaf salad, a Burmese egg noodle salad (tasted like a savory-sweet mix of tamarind and sesame paste), and a Burmese fish curry. Our mains came with soup, salad, and an interesting shaved ice dessert that had grass jelly, raisins, peanuts, and a fruit syrup topping. I wasn’t expecting grass jelly, but I enjoyed this dessert!

Albany isn’t considered a “major” metro area, but it has quite a number of eclectic restaurants and cafes to keep you interested. The fall colors everywhere have been a gorgeous backdrop, so we really got lucky with our timing this year.

First butternut squash of this autumn season, and first butternut squash soup (!)

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In my mind, there are three things that personally ring in fall / autumn for me: making my first pumpkin dessert (usually pumpkin bread since it’s easy and delicious), my first apple dessert (as first started during the pandemic year of 2020, when I made a German style apple cake (apfelkuchen) that was inspired by the amazing apple cake we had during our first trip to Germany, and 3) my first butternut squash purchase, followed by peeling and cutting up my first butternut for cooking, and SOUP!

I made a quick pumpkin cake with maple cream cheese frosting for our New Jersey play date in late September. Then, when my friend just came to visit, I made an apple fritter cake, which tasted just like an apple-laden apple cider donut, just without all the oil from frying. Yesterday, I peeled, cut, and roasted my first butternut squash of this autumn. Today, I used it to make a quick butternut squash and white bean soup. I had leftover white beans from cooking last week, and so I decided to puree it into my soup, which worked extremely well! I’m looking for more ways to incorporate beans into our diet for added protein (and just because they’re SO good for you), and this was a perfect way to get them in. The white beans added a velvety texture to the soup, and it gave the soup even more body, thickness, and creaminess. I definitely did not make the same mistake I made last year by using a crappy cartoned vegetable stock from Trader Joe’s; this time, I used some dashi I had made from last week, and the umami flavor really complimented the squash and beans well. With my three items checked off, it’s definitely and officially fall in our kitchen!

I’m looking forward to cooking with even more butternut squash and other autumn squash favorites, like buttercup and kabocha, very soon. Autumn/winter squash is truly the best squash. Take THAT, zucchini and yellow summer squash!

Mid-Autumn Festival: Lantern making with parents activity at school

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Each month, Kaia’s new school will have activities where parents are invited to participate in the classroom. It’s done by lottery, and usually two parents will be invited to join each event. This month, I was selected as one of two caregivers to attend for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival lantern making activity. I dropped Kaia off at the school at 8:30 and then came back at 10am for the lantern making. It was a bit haphazard, as nothing was really described beforehand, and we all just jumped into the activity. The kids were given the supplies, and steps were barely described even as we went about the activity. On a positive note, I finally got to meet the Chinese teacher, who comes in from 9-4:30 every day, which is why I hadn’t met her yet; we just never overlapped since I pick up at around 5pm.

Pookster was very excited to see me come into the classroom, but she reverted into a bit of a baby from the moment I arrived. She wanted me to do all the pasting and positioning of the mooncakes and rabbits for her on the lantern. She wanted to squirt liquid glue everywhere (which I was not an fan of…). And every time I got up to get supplies or my phone to take photos, she freaked out and followed me, thinking that I was going to leave. When she said she had to go pee, the Chinese teacher offered to take her, but she refused. So the Chinese teacher still took her, and I just sat and watched from outside the door so she could see me.

“It’s okay,” the Chinese teacher reassured me in Chinese. “All the kids are like this. Once their mommy comes, they just want mommy and no one else. She is usually good here and always listens. She’ll go back to normal once you leave.”

The activity barely lasted 30 minutes, so I really wasn’t there that long. When I had to leave, it was total pandemonium. One kid whose grandpa had come was crying because her grandpa was leaving, and then Kaia started crying loudly when I told her I had to go, but Daddy would come pick her up later. One of the admins picked her up to comfort her as I said bye and went out the door.

I’m not sure I should come to these events moving forward after this. I don’t want to disrupt the day and just want her to engage with the daily activities and have fun with her classmates. The admin reassured me this was all normal and not unique to her, so it is what it is. It just made me feel bad that when I wanted to participate when given an opportunity, I probably made the day worse in the end for my Pookster.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, aka time to eat mooncake

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Growing up, I had no idea what Mid-Autumn Moon Festival was, but I did know that at around the same time of year every autumn, I could expect to eat moon cakes. Around September of every year, my grandma would buy boxes and boxes of Cantonese style moon cakes as gifts for family and friends. In return, we (surprise surprise) also received endless boxes of moon cakes, as well. I never understood the cultural importance of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival then. I just enjoyed eating the moon cakes. Since our family is Cantonese, I was really only ever exposed to Cantonese style mooncakes at home. It wasn’t until I was in college when I realized that there are many regional differences across not only China, but different parts of Asia, for mooncakes. Just a couple weeks ago, I finally had Thai style moon cakes, which are really more like mini round flaky pastries with a filling. And apparently, Shanghainese moon cakes are similar to these Thai ones, as well! I feel like I’m always learning new things about my culture and variations of the food I grew up eating.

It wasn’t until college that I officially learned what “Mid-Autumn Moon Festival” even was. Historically, the festival marked the time of the year, in autumn, when families would gather to enjoy the fruitful reaping of rice and wheat, and they would mark this with food offerings made in honor of the moon. The day that Mid-Autumn Moon Festival falls is always an evening of a full moon. So today, families will typically gather and have a delicious feast. And at some point of the day, they will cut moon cakes into small pieces and eat them together with tea. The moon is a symbol of harmony and unity, and so it’s considered auspicious to eat moon cake during this time of year. Moon cakes are always round, just like the moon (not unique, but you get the idea). Families eating moon cake during the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is basically signifying that their family is unified and complete.

Since my grandma died, our family never really did anything for Mid-Autumn Moon Festival other than buy moon cakes around the same time each year. But I would like for Kaia to understand the cultural significance of these Chinese holidays since they are part of her culture. This year, for the first time, I actually went down to Chinatown specifically to buy moon cakes, specifically ones that I special ordered via email from Kopitiam, a Malaysian cafe/restaurant that was making snow moon cakes based on demand. I ordered five: two durian, one taro, one black sesame, and one white lotus seed paste (the last one is the most traditional Cantonese filling, and my favorite one growing up that I was exposed to).

Snow moon cakes, in the last several years (as long as I am aware), have become all the rage during Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. They’re basically like the modernized version of moon cakes: they have the same round shape, the same beautiful molds, but instead of a shortening or butter-based crust on the outside, snow moon cakes have a “shell” that is made of mochi or glutinous rice flour. They are instant eye candy and are just stunning to look at. And the moon cakes that are being made by places like Kopitiam — you know for a fact that they’re not taking any shortcuts or using artificial anything. I cut two, the durian and the taro, and Chris and I shared them. I offered a bite to Kaia given the holiday, though I’d normally never give her anything with added sugar. Initially, she seemed intrigued, but when she got close enough and watched us eat, she said she didn’t want any. It’s okay: I still want her exposed to these things, and at some point one day, she will be tempted.

Office pumpkin carving

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I love pumpkin carving in the autumn. Ever since I realized that using a (very dangerous) kitchen knife was not what everyone else was using to carve their pumpkins, and that pumpkin carving tools that were made kid-safe (e.g. easy for any dummy to use) were readily available (and for cheap!), I embraced the art of pumpkin carving. The last time I remember actually doing it was at my last company, and so when I heard we would be doing it today as a culture-building activity, I immediately cleared my calendar and jumped on it. In recent years, my favorite pumpkins have always been the happy ones. There are enough scary things in the world (particularly when it comes to politics in this country for the last couple of years), so I would prefer that my jack-o-lanterns be cheerful and bring delight. It was my first time picking a design that required shading (really, “shaving” the pumpkin skin for some different color tones), and it took almost an hour, but it really turned out looking quite attractive and spot on based on the image I copied and free-handed from a quick internet search. My jack-o-lantern has huge eyes, eyebrows, a massive smile, some pointed buck teeth, plus two little dimples! Needless to say, I was pretty proud of my carving work.

Today was likely my favorite day in the office in a long, long time. It was definitely the best work day this calendar year for sure — productivity at its all-time peak!