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FrostOctober 21, 2010 Yesterday morning the thermometer read about 37 degrees F when I stepped out on the deck. It was just before 7 a.m.; the sky was light, but the sun wasn't quite up. Our morning walk took us by the West Tisbury School. The ground around the sandy volleyball pit, between the tennis courts and the teachers' parking lot, has been plowed up -- and there was frost, real frost, on the brown earth. In the afternoon I picked all the cherry tomatoes that were at least half ripe. They're ripening in two cereal bowls near my front window. This morning it was again under 40 when I looked out the door, but I didn't see any frost on the ground. Travvy and I can see our breath, though. Time for warmer clothes and heartier meals. I just made Sonora Chicken Casserole for the first time since early May. It's hearty. Chicken, cheese, torn-up corn tortillas, and a mélange of salsa, chili, cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, milk, and onion. The recipe is writer Pat Murphy's. I learned it from Her Smoke Rose Up from Supper, the second of two cookbooks published almost 20 years ago to raise money for the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award. The first was The Bakery Men Don't See. Both titles are riffs on Tiptree story titles, "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" and "The Women Men Don't See," respectively. I think it was Terry Garey who said that there's no such thing as a bakery men don't see. Travvy likes Sonora Chicken Casserole because it involves lots of pots, bowls, and plates, and he gets to pre-wash all of them. I like it because I can eat it five days out of seven and not get sick of it. It's good by itself, and it's good on rice. When the casserole runs low, then I'll make sausage chili. I never get sick of that either, and it freezes well. If serious frost holds off a few more days, I may get some more tomatoes. There are still plenty of green ones out there.
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