Broad Swath

Thanksgiving is coming.  It's not too early to start mapping out some light conversation topics.  It's also a good time to get your pumpkin on. I think pumpkin, baked and pureed at home, tastes a lot better than canned and worth the extra effort.  So... 1) Buy one or two of these. Regular pie pumpkins (Sugar Pie, Sugar Baby) aren't too hard to find.  Superior to canned, but get a "B" for color and flavor. Long Island Cheese - my current favorite.  Sometimes hard to find.  Found one at the farmer's market this year. Jarrahdale - It's gorgeous slate blue exterior and intense orange interior kills it in the aesthetics category.   Big flavor.  Hard to find around here. The Fairytale, or Musquee de Provence variety, looks interesting but I've never seen one around Madison.  Let me know if you find something you like. 2) Cut them in half. That's a really big L.I.C. 3) Bake them, cut side down, in a glass or ...

      A few years ago we paid a quick visit to Martha's nephew Max and his wife Jen in their cool San Francisco neighborhood as the start of a family spring break vacation.  We met Lily their boxador and they served us fresh pea soup from their Vitamix.  We had a lovely time, but Monday came and they were not on vacation.  So they directed us to a nearby breakfast place to fuel up before our drive south to Big Sur.  I can't remember the name.  It was a couple blocks away.  I poked around on a Google map but came up empty.  Maybe it's not there anymore.  Anyway...      We were seated near a table at which an African American woman I recognized was finishing her meal with a couple friends.  (Your chances of seeing someone famous are much higher in a cool San Francisco neighborhood than in Madison.)  I pointed her out, and Martha agreed she was somebody, but we couldn't agree on a name. ...

Notoriety can be a funny thing. Around our house Martha is notorious for stealing bed covers, rigorous dishwasher-loading methodology, believing that one can be a great navigator with a terrible sense of direction, and being late for everything except airplanes. But to her friends and family Martha is notorious for.... Snatching crackers from her brother. Being forced to sit at the dinner table for eternity, her cheeks stuffed with chewed, never-to-be-swallowed vegetables. Believing that a shoelace draped over her head was a reasonable facsimile of having long, straight hair. A perfectly organized sock drawer. Passing for under 12 at the Wellesley Community Playhouse. Her favorite getaway canoe was a 17' Grumman HIN. Buying a ticket to Portland but boarding a plane to San Francisco, then demanding an explanation from the flight attendant as to why they were landing in the "wrong" city. "And why are we landing in San Francisco?...