I felt inspired to prepare a meal today with the tomatoes. What arose in my mind was to prepare an eggplant and tomato dish. This week, we received two medium sized eggplants in our produce box. I cut up one eggplant. I put olive oil on a large pan and sprinkled thyme and rosemary that I'm growing in the garden on each piece of eggplant. Then I cut up some Irish Dubliner Cheese and placed thin slices on each piece of eggplant. I cut up a handful of the lovely tomatoes that my plants grew. I placed the tomatoes on top of the cheese. I added some garlic salt and pepper on top. I cut up two small bell peppers from the CSA box as well. Then I placed the dish in the oven for 30-45 minutes. The before and after pictures are below.
The dish is a meal of love. For me, food is love. That is what my mother and Jewish cultural background taught me. It's amazing to me the connection that I had with the meal that I just enjoyed. I ate every bite slowly and it was so flavorful and delicious! The thyme, rosemary, and tomatoes are from my garden. The bell peppers and eggplant from Full Belly Farm. The Dubliner cheese from Ireland. Well, I had a connection to a majority of the meal except for the Dubliner cheese. When I travel to Ireland one day and if I visit the farm with the dairy cows and creamery, then I will have more of a connection to the cheese that I just ate. Dubliner cheese is one of my favorites, I love the sharp Chedder. I have plenty more of this delicious meal to enjoy for left-overs.
I'm grateful to have a connection to my food. I enjoy the process of gardening and growing some of my own herbs and plants. This is one aspect where I feel and honor my connection to the Earth and Elements (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water). There is intimacy in growing one's own food. It's also a process of discovery and attunement with the rhythms and cycles of nature. As well as the process from seed, to sprout, to plant, to harvest, and to death of the life-cycle of a plant and also of human life. Although, I live in an urban area, I feel very much in tune with the cycles of nature and the shifts of the wheel of the year.
The Autumnal Equinox will occur this upcoming weekend on Saturday, September 22nd. Since the beginning of September I've been feeling the slow shift, like minute hands on the face of a clock to Autumn. The Autumnal Equinox is when it is the official shift, yet everything in the natural world happens in slow gradations. The nights grow longer gradually. These transitions and shifts can teach people in contemporary society and urban areas about their lives if people choose to pay attention and glean the wisdom of the natural world. Change that is sustainable with a solid foundation occurs in gradations over time. Thus, change over time is a process. To speed up this process would lead to fragmentation rather than integration. I'm continually amazed at the wisdom of the natural world; the plant, animal kingdoms, and elements. I am always learning with an open heart.
Sunday night was Erev Rosh Hashanah. The Beginning of the Jewish New Year. Recently, I've been feeling rather inward and contemplative. This is aligned with the Days of Awe, The High Holy Days and the shift to the Autumn season. As I walk around my Berkeley neighborhood, I look at the trees and notice the leaves change colors, fall to the ground, and the leaves that have already fallen, especially on California St. in my neighborhood. On California street, there are towering old Oak trees that are beautiful. I enjoy stepping onthe crunchy brown leaves on the sidewalk. When I was walking, I heard a child mention something about pumpkin pie to the parent the child was with. I look forward to preparing some pumpkin pie in October. It's one of my favorite pies.
My housemates and friends honored and celebrated the Jewish New Year by having an Erev Rosh Hashanah meal at our house. It was a delicious meal and I'm grateful for friends and community to share and celebrate the shift to a new Jewish year and the change of seasons with! We each shared an intention for the new year, as we passed around a platter of apples and honey. Each person dipped an organic apple slice into honey and then ate it. Ritualistically, grounding the intention through sharing it with community and then ingesting the intention so that it can manifest. May we all have a sweet new year and fall well into the Autumn season.
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