Yes, it's been a long time. No, I am not going to make excuses, except that the past two weekends have been not-so-fun, and the weeks are pretty full with work and school. Otis has been doing most of the weeknight cooking, including another fabulous soup-- this one with tomatoes, kale, and chicken-pork-sage meatballs. I've gotta say, there's something about a meatball in soup that just feels so homey.

He tells me that since we're often out of eggs, he's been using mayo as one of the ingredients of the meatballs. Odd, but it seems to work-- they're fabulously light and fluffy.

Last night, however, it was my turn to finally make an effort in the kitchen. Our friends Rebeccah and Pete came over, and we had a great time hearing about their (soon to be) new house-- they're closing in November. It sounds like an amazing place-- horribly decorated, but enormous, structurally sound, and in a great spot-- South Portland's Ferry Village.

In honor of fall, I decided to make a roast chicken and roast veg. Of course, it was 70 yesterday, but in comparison to the 90-degree weather we enjoyed earlier in the week, it felt positively crisp. We've been accumulating root veggies from Wolf Pine for a while, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to throw them all in the bottom of the roaster and have fun.

Under the chicken, we had carrots, turnips, and celeriac, and in a separate pan in deference to Pete's beet-phobia were some beets. I tossed the veg with s&p and olive oil, and added a couple of heads' worth of whole garlic cloves.

For the chicken, I chopped about a quarter cup of our homegrown summer savory with half a stick of butter, and rubbed that under the skin. Then I cut up a couple of lemons and threw them inside the chicken.

Roast at 425 for about an hour and voila-- yummy dinner. (I also made some chicken gravy with the drippings, flour, some vermouth, some red wine, s&p, a squeeze of lemon, and some chicken broth. Yummmmmmer. Nothing like gravy.)

There's a reason why comfort food is so comforting, at least for me-- it makes me think of family holidays, and helping out in the kitchen when I was a little girl, and lying on the couch reading while dinner makes itself in the oven.

I'm hoping that the sudden drop in temps heralds the real start of fall. It's been odd to be back-to-school in the heat!

(We sadly missed the Common Ground Fair last weekend, because of my darned cold, but heard it was wonderful. Next year, hopefully.)