WELCOME, STEW SEASON!

SNL might tell you, "It's sweatah weathah," and it is, so that's true. It's also Stew Season. Basically, it's cooking season up here in New England.

Not that we don't cook other times of the year. because we certainly do. We barbecue, steam, air fry, make pizza (basically add tomato and mozzarella to anything and everything), eat burnt hot dogs off equally burnt sticks, chew on hamburgers that give hockey pucks a run for their money, and we do so all summer long.

Once we whip out that car auto-starter and the seat warmers, though, all bets are off. It's time to bring out the big guns: crock pots and bakeware.

I'll be honest. It has been a while since I cooked anything stupendous. Sure, I'm still eating corn on the cob and an occasional meatloaf, courtesy of my own kitchen, but now that the temperature is inching toward that first frost, comfort foods are necessary.

I go to the store with the intention of getting a few things that I need. I have half a box of lasagna noodles, so maybe I'll make some meatballs to go with that. I accidentally bypass the hamburger, though, and end up in the chicken section. There are some packages of boneless chicken breasts that look darn good, and they're on sale. Into my cart they go. Backtracking to the beef, I first must pass the pork. Oh, how the ribs are calling me. Alas, I'm trying to buy ground beef, so I urge myself to keep moving. 

On the way to that section of the meat case, I see cubed beef chuck. Yes, that's a great idea. It's going to be chilly. I should make some beef stew. I find a small package that is, surprisingly, also on sale. I make a mental note to hit the produce as I push the cart over to my original destination, the ground beef. I find the amount I need, on sale, throw that in with the other stuff, and head over to buy vegetables for the stew.

As I pass by the pork section again, country style ribs whisper, "Won't we taste good on a cold evening?" The correct answer is, "Yes, yes, you would, but you're not on --" Dagnabbit! These are on sale, too! I find a package of five good-sized spareribs, and, just like that, BOOM, I'm buying ribs, too.

I complete my shopping trip, the one where I came in for a couple of random items and some ground beef once upon a mini-list ago, in the produce aisle. I select carrots, string beans, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, and various other delicious fruits and veggies. I think I'm home-free until I pass by the fresh corn on the cob. I pick out two great ears (I'm pretty good at this as I have been a corn hound since before I could walk).

The next thing I know, my freezer has several meals stashed -- lasagna and meatballs, stew (I fished out both bay leaves on the first swipe), chicken and corn dinner -- and five individually wrapped spareribs. It's as if I blinked my eyes and the autumn cooking genies took over my home. I won't lie: I'm totally psyched.

Nothing left to do now except put on my sweater, crank the heat a little bit, and enjoy. Welcome, Stew Season. Long may you reign!

RACECAR FEVER

My neighbor has a race car. I know this because he rents several garage bays in front of my apartment building, and I have full access view of the work area. It's fascinating, kind of like watching a one-man pit crew. Sometimes the car is on a lift, sometimes it's in one bay, and sometimes it's in another random bay.

Sometimes, though, that car needs to be transported to races, and this is where I salivate. The sound of that car is mesmerizing. Sure, I often hear the engine going through its motions as the mechanic checks it and recalibrates it and runs it through its paces inside the bays. But nothing, not one damn thing, beats the sound of that car trying to contain itself as it moves into the trailer for transport.

It's the end of the race season up here, maybe another three weeks or so, because it's New England, and our weather is about as predictable as an unmedicated mental patient. This means I only have limited opportunities to hear the car before it's packed away for the winter. I sit on my porch, pretending I'm not watching and listening. I pull the curtains aside, pretending I'm not watching and listening.

Recently, I realized exactly what I must look like: The neighborhood creeper.

So, I finally introduce myself to the car owner/mechanic. We haven't chatted much, perhaps a total of forty-five seconds in our three very brief conversations. I apologize for being that person who probably looks like a busy-body. He apologized for the car making noise when he runs it. 

Making noise?

At that point, my eyes bug out of my head. I blurt out, "That's the highlight of my day!"

It's to the point where I try not to be a nuisance. If he's working on the car and outside of the garages when I am leaving or returning, I will wave maybe fifty percent of the time. I mean, I'm a car Fan Girl but there must be a fine line I don't want to cross. He probably thinks I'm the crazy old lady who lives in a box. 

I'm just a neighbor with a true appreciation for the beauty of a car, and, if I'm being totally honest, a bit of jealousy that he gets to drive it for fun and money. Lucky bastard!