Turkey Egg Rolls with Cranberry Chili Dipping Sauce

Most of you have recipes that only come out at the holidays.  Maybe because they are more involved and time consuming, or maybe because you just want to keep them special.  If you made The Most Amazing Crab Dip every month of the year, it just wouldn't have the same significance as it does at Christmas.  Same in my family.  Around the turn of the century (how fun to say that - I sound like I should be wearing petticoats or something) my mom started making egg rolls.  Like, really really good egg rolls.  She probably clipped the recipe out of the newspaper and thought she'd give them a whirl.  Remember clipping recipes out of newspapers?  Does anyone still do that?  The first year she made them for us at Christmas, we were freaking out they were so good.  Better than many Chinese restaurants in fact.  I would tease my mom and say she must have been a Chinese grandma in a former life.  She just smiled at me.  "Oh, Renee" she would say.  

Eat Your Beets! Beet & Cabbage Borscht

 

 

Breathe properly.  Stay curious.  And eat your beets.  ~ Tom Robbins

It's decidedly fall here.  Leaves are turning and falling almost simultaneously.  As much as I adore summer, there is something quite special about the smell and light and the feeling fall has.  Borderline melancholic with a good dash each of wistfulness and hope - that's how I think of fall.  With this new season there seems to be a shot at a fresh start.  Plans to make.  Pencils to sharpen.  Out of summer la la land and into a deeper focus of what's important.  Plus, lets not forget new TV season.  (Homeland tonight!).  In garden-land, things have quieted down considerably, and I'm happy for it.  My evenings no longer have to be about watering and weeding and harvesting.  Tomatoes are still on the vine and I watch the frost warnings like a hawk.  There are a few roots left - the beets and carrots don't mind the chill and are quite forgiving of my neglect.  It's put-the-garden-to-bed time, and what better way to use up the last of your hard work than with a big pot of soup bubbling away on the stove.  See ya later, summer.  Fall is my new best friend and I'm bringing it on with borscht.