Fall and Comfort Foods

It's Fall. There's something about Fall. The sun sets earlier and rises later, and there is a certain chill in the air. The leaves start to change color and fall off the trees. The tress are left standing naked with twisted branches and try to retain some modesty against an overcast sky.

Granted, the seasons are not as dramatic in California, and I shouldn't complain because I don't have to deal with the snow storms or icy conditions, but there is a certain nostalgia that I feel whenever Fall comes around. I start to think about the long Summer days and the feeling of freedom whenever I was outside, where the air was full of life and longing and I was happily walking around drenched in the sunlight. Then the rain starts and the twilightish light casts a long shadow on everything. I say a long goodbye to heirloom tomatoes and summer fruits like peaches, strawberries, nectarines and plums.

Fall is the beginning of a hibernation period for me. I want to eat comfort foods. I want to hole up in my home and either make a big batch of chili or some lasagna or snuggle up under a blanket on the couch with a large bowl of macaroni and cheese and not leave my little cave.

I can't complain too much though. It is the start of the holiday season. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Occasions that center around family, friends and food. There is a reunion of sorts as family members that were gone on vacation are now back in town. My husband comes from a large family and I look forward to indulging in most of my favorite comfort foods during these large family-centered occasions - turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, prime rib, mashed potatoes and desserts galore. Sometimes there are other dishes such as bahn cuon (rice noodles stuffed with meat), egg rolls and Vietnamese curries. There is enough variety to appeal to even the pickiest of eaters and certainly enough food for all. It's like going to any banquet, you have to pace yourself, just so that you can have a taste of everything. Then, you can go back for seconds for your favorites.

There is one good reason to look forward to Fall though and that is, the beginning of DUNGENESS CRAB SEASON! Generally, the season starts sometime around Thanksgiving. We have a tradition of going to the docks in Half Moon Bay and buy crabs directly from the boats. Half Moon Bay is a beautiful area and it reminds me how lucky I am to be living here. The smell of the ocean and the wind invigorates me a bit and I like the process of selecting my crabs and knowing that they are fresh from the ocean. I find that the crabs have much more tomalley (the yellowish green runny material in the body cavity, which is the liver) than the ones I buy at the supermarket. Although the taste of tomalley is a bit strong by itself, it adds a great flavor to the crab meat, or to any rice dish. Unfortunately, with the oil spill, this may temper my enthusiasm for buying crab, but I don't think that the oil spill will affect the areas where the crab fishermen harvest the crab.

I prefer my crab plain. It's so easy: step 1 - just pop the crabs in a steamer and let them steam for about 20 minutes and they're done, step 2 - cover the table with old newspaper and put a set of nut crackers or crab tools at each setting and put an empty bowl for all of the shells in the middle, and step 3 - dig in! Just to provide some balance, I make some white rice and some veggies.

What can be better than this?