The end of Autumn.

This fall I have been absolutely unable to look away from the trees.  My expectations for tree color were not high, given the bizarre, nearly tropical, warmth of September and October.  But somewhere before Thanksgiving we must have had a hard frost and suddenly there they were, the reason my mother sent me a box of wax ironed leaves when I lived in California. 

There are 5 young maples in a row in the park by my house who have gone such a magnificent pinkish scarlet that I nearly drive over the curb whenever the car rounds that corner.  They are hanging on to every last leaf and I salute them...though I have not photographed them. Some things can not be captured.

The three dimensionality of the fallen leaves beautiful this year, the way they drift and pile so lightly.  The shades. The shadows.  Perhaps this year I am just more noticing. 

Every year the leaves fall from the maple in my neighbor's yard onto my deck and I am so busy and lazy and not aware that they stay there until there has been rain or snow and they are rotting and sodden and frozen and in the spring they are a stinking beast to clean up.  Saturday I was home after the gym and looked out and thought - that tree is finally bare and today that is a 30 minute job.  Sad as I am to see them go.....

Sunday found me glad I acted. 

Other signs of winter.....Kilkenny Irish Soda Bread.  I used to be a fair hand with baking - when I was a little girl I would come home from school and make a cake a few times a week - but I never do it any more as I live alone and can't say no to fresh baked anything.  But the things you can buy are awful, even in good shops. 

Subbed craisins for raisins as that was what I have (I hate raisins), and used half organic whole wheat flour/half organic a/p white flour, and unprocessed cane sugar. I grew up thinking that healthier choices meant less flavor and I'm investigating the truth of that a bit these days.  So far it seems to be bollocks - I would say on the whole more delicate flavor, but not less. 

Verdict?  Not sure it was soda bread, but it was really good.  Managed a decent delicacy of crust and the flavor was excellent.  Needed a hair more mixing for cohesion - maybe a tad more buttermilk? And a tiny bit more salt. 

I ate half the loaf while it was warm - must work on that - I'll check the leftovers tonight to see if the texture in fact came out right in the end. 

 

Comments

[Jessica]

It must be the weather. I made banana bread yesterday and I haven't done that (or much other baking) in ages. Your bread looks wonderful!

[Laurie]

It's been a very odd fall. We got your snow, made the commute nasty, who cares. I agree with baking and not baking.

[Martha]

So years and years ago, my friend Dave had a St. Patrick's Day dinner, and I took soda bread. Dave: "Oh my god, this is the best soda bread I've ever had! It's so moist! Where did you buy it?" Me: "You can BUY soda bread? Why would you? It takes, like, 15 minutes to make and you have all the ingredients." Dave: "THAT explains why this doesn't taste like cardboard." Since then I have eaten storebought soda bread and it does indeed give soda bread a bad name. It's a shame that there are generations out there growing up thinking soda bread is wretched, when it can be so very very delicious.

Mmmmm, now I might have to bake some, too.

[Ellen]

The Baker's catalog has Irish flour that makes amazing soda bread. I got discovered it when we returned from Ireland and I was trying to make the good brown soda bread we had over there. This flour is the closest thing to it.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/landing.jsp?term=irish+flour&go=DefaultSearch

[Phil Boncer]

I have a cat, Eliza, who for some reason has a penchant for fresh baked goods. Some years back, I lived in a house with an Irish family next door; they had two delightful kids I babysat occasionally, just for fun/neighborliness. One year, they made a fine Irish soda bread, and left a loaf for me on my back porch, thinking that was safe. Eliza found it first, licked a hole in the bag and ate all she could reach. The loaf had a neat hole in the center top exactly the size of her head. The rest of the loaf was good, though. (Eliza is sitting in my lap right now as I type this.)

PhilB

[k]

The tamaracks are last this year, as they should be, and are just changing. And we have 6 inches of snow on the ground. And the willows are in the bud-swelling stage, at least the ones that have lost their leaves.

[irene]

Mmmm.....your substitutions sound delicious.
I always find it tastes better the next day!

[Brewjen]

Love the pictures of the leaves! Soda bread -eh - but i grew up in an irish house and all homebaked goods - oh poor me - So hard to believe i fantasized about twinkies, ringdings and chips ahoy!! Is it wrong to read the blog to catch up?? Just returned from the land of yarnia - life is good!!
Jenny

[Jocelyn]

Mmmm... soda bread... Must go bake now, excuse me! I'm all for using "healthier" alternatives. I have a killer recipe for Irish brown bread that uses graham flour -- so yummy.

[anne]

mmmm, that looks good. i don't bake much for just the two of use either . . i love the warm feeling but david eats too much of it and he shouldn't, while i can take or leave the eating part of it.
on the other hand, it's just SO much better than any store bought, and so much healthier than the little debbie's that i know he sneaks in . . .

so, is it better to feed a loved one's weak resistance to baked goods, or better to make sure that the ones they will eat anyway are healthy?

hmmm.

[Margaret]

The maples and red oaks have been the prettiest things around here this year.
Oh soda bread with dried cranberries sounds fantastic! Would you post the recipe?

[Kristen]

my parents came by to help me clean up the lawn yesterday - I hadn't done anything with the leaves and was content to put off worrying about it until the spring; then they showed up and we had the whole lawn bagged in less than 45 minutes. (and not a moment too soon, based on the foot of snow outside...I, too have a maple that refuses to let the leaves drop until the very last moment.)

[meg mcg]

My 8 year old niece and her grandpa found an innovative way to preserve the beuatiful fall leaves. They scanned them, printed them in color and used the internet to identify them. Then she made a little book and called it 'Leaves of Wickford'.
The times they are a-changing!

[Lizbon]

Sigh. Leaves. I have been feeling very, very ultra leaf-deprived this year. Only two trees in Central Park seem to have turned properly, and those only for a week. I miss the red hills, the improbable colors, the near-car-accidents from staring. But then, the whole time I was in Westchester the other day, I felt trapped and claustrophobic and could not wait to get back to my incredibly crowded city so I could breathe freely again. Isn't that weird?

[claudia]

I know you have awesome powers because I briefly considered baking irish soda bread. Of course I thought better of it, but still.

[Tsock Tsarina]

Yesterday... row of Bradford pear trees along Main St, deep red/russet leaves with a light crust of snow on and around them... against grey snowy sky. Very very good.

More buttermilk is almost always good, and bread is *meant* to be eaten warm.

Now, about that virgin sock business... you ready to step up to the plate? or you just whistlin' dixie at me?

[Rosemary]

Are you going to share that soda bread recipe with the blog?

For me, fall always meant pine needles first, and then leaves. My mom sent me little baggies of white pine needles every year in college. And then she sent the last ones to fall a few years ago--right before they had the big old tree removed.

[Marce]

Um...I suppose the travel expense to come and help finish that up would really not be economically sound, so I'll say - ENJOY IT! Looks delicious.

The leaf shots make me want to curl up under something warm...

[Melanie]

Leaf color was odd this year--the trees started turning SO early that I didn't really expect that glorious burst of color in October/November.

I've had good luck using dried blueberries or dried sour cherries instead of raisins in some baked goods. And since I just got done snowblowing the driveway, I think baking is on today's to-do list.

[olga]

Soda bread must be in the air, Miss T at http://mysteryhouse.typepad.com had a post on Friday about this bread too!

[heather]

soda bread and snow sounds like the perfect combination for a sunday afternoon.

[Phiala]

Mmmm... soda bread! I had similar weather but didn't bake anything other than sock yarn (not so tasty).

Alas, the wax-paper leaves are a thing of the past - waxed paper is now "microwave safe" and won't melt together when ironed. Hooray for progress...