Tenaya and I taught our first food blogging workshop earlier today. We had six terrific students in attendance and spent three really fun hours talking blogging, writing and enjoying an array of snacks.

Autumn light on the neighboring highrises.

Scott’s very first Hawaiian shirt. His mom tucked it into the box with our second anniversary present.

Breakfast. Yogurt, runny strawberry preserves and a slightly stale millet muffin, crumbled. It was the most satisfying part of my day. I spent the remainder of my waking hours trying to organize myself and shake an inexplicable feeling of anxiety.

I got to meet Alana of the blog Eating from the Ground Up. She introduced herself to me through a lovely email some years back and we’ve been internet buddies ever since. Her book, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making will be out next spring and I can’t wait to see it.

A Columbus Day tag sale (my kind of holiday). I bought a glass canning funnel for $.50. When I picked it up, the woman asked gruffly, “Do you know what that is?” I wish that people would stop equating youth with food preservation illiteracy.

At a farm outside Northampton with art placed around the orchard. I bought garlic and talked canning with the owner. I wished it had been cooler, it’s hard to feel properly autumnal when it’s 80 degrees.

Taught a canning class in the morning and then drove to Northampton with Scott. We were there to visit Becky, Eric and Spaetzle (the cat). When we arrived, they were making dinner for us. We ate on their screened-in porch, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and talking about friends, music and how to spend our weekend.

Scrambling to get my Serious Eats pickle post done before a busy weekend kicks in. I’m always later than I’m supposed to be when it comes to prepping that post. I finished these jars in the last ten minutes before heading out for a surprise birthday party. Someday, I’ll learn to time things better.

Home again and happy to be back in the kitchen. I cooked three meals today and loved feeling so food-connected again.