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Monday, October 15, 2012

If I Lay Down, I Should Still Be Able to Zip My Pants


It was a day the likes of which were once discussed in tomes dedicated to the excesses of ancient Rome.

In other words, I ate until I thought I would burst.

Dang autumn.

It wasn’t the sweet and sour chicken.  It surely wasn’t the curried squash soup.  But the batch of chocolate chip cookie batter I mixed up – some of which actually made it to the cookie sheet/oven – was the home-made icing on the wide-load cake.

Autumn.

It started as a cleaning day, morphing into a cooking day, followed by a baking day, resulting in an evening in which I pondered the innie, the outtie, and the distance between the two.

All of these days happened in the space of Sunday.  It’s complex – I don’t think we have time for it here – but let’s just say that it involved some tricky justification on my part.  It’s an economic thing, energy-wise.  It’s weather-related. 

And best of all, I shouldn’t have to eat again until Thursday.

Why?  Why?

Outside, the leaves have fallen, the limbs of the massive oak outside my third-floor apartment, now naked, scratch the bright blue October sky. 

And inside, the apartment smells of several dinners and the next size up.

43 comments:

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

Happened to me last week. Now I am guilt ridden, depressed and am thinking of liposuction. That cool air makes one think of comfort foods, doesn't it?

Vicus Scurra said...

An infinitely more resonant description of the season than that by the fool Keats.

Perpetua said...

It's instinctive, Pearl - just laying down stores for the winter.

Pearl said...

I love how you guys join me in my reasonings.

Let us celebrate with some nice apple crisp. :-)

joeh said...

Eat up, it's going to be a long cold Winter.

vanilla said...

Perpetua already said it. It is the survival instinct, preparatory to winter. And what's a "size up" anyway?

Unknown said...

Yep, same thing's happening here!

Anonymous said...

Due to party leftovers, we're living large here, too.

Leenie said...

All valid excuses but I like Vicus Scurra and joeh's best. Chocolate in every form for me yesterday. Scared now to contemplate what is left of my navel.

Shelly said...

The aromas in your apartment must be what heaven smells like~

esbboston said...

Global optimization leads to globular shapes.

"Shapesimization" ?

Maybe.

I think I need to go find a paintbrush and eNjoy the great outdoors ...

My Soup de Saturday:

Highly Modified Gumbo
To a can of chicken & sausage gumbo, added 1/4 lb of already cooked ground buffalo-pork sausage burger, flaked.
Seasoned with garlic powder, fresh basil, diced purple onion, tabasco sauce, black pepper, oregano.
Added a 1/4 of a red bell pepper, diced, cooked minimally.
Mmmm...

My new basil plant looks cute and green ... and globular!

SherilinR said...

it's imperative to pack on some blubber for the winter. plus, baking makes the house smell so good and feels cozy and warm. and what is the baking without the eating?

terlee said...

Brownies. Dense, chocolately, lip-smacking, don't-get-near-the-scales deliciousness. My treat of the week.

And truly. It must be subliminal messages woven into our DNA: "Eat! Winter's coming!"

Anonymous said...

Ah...a cozy comfort day. Like the squirrels storing up nuts for the winter you stored up some body fat for the comming storms.
I can just picture those gnarled fingers of the trees scraping against the sky searching for the warmth taken from them. Have another piece of pie Pearl.

darlin said...

Pearl you're only preparing for the dipping temperatures, without a bit of excess body fat I swear we'd freeze to death! lol

I know the cleaning, cooking, baking, writing, photo taking, shopping days (all of which happen within the span of 24 hours) are like all too well and somehow it all seems to come together and at the end of that day, I deserve a good movie!

Cheers.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Needing thin clothes & fat clothes doesn't bother me--it's when I need fat clothes & FATTER clothes that I get upset!!

Dawn@Lighten Up! said...

With you, as always, Pearl. As I struggled to button up even my "Monday pants" (I call them) today, I srsly counted back and wondered if I could be pregnant. And though I am forty-dang-three, I almost hoped I was - such was the large-ness of my belly.

Sadly , not pregnant. Just fat.
In the fall.

Pearl said...

Have I told you people how much I love you?

Here: Have some pie.

Unknown said...

Laying flat is the ONLY way to get my jeans zipped up when this type of catastrophe hits. Rosemary

Suldog said...

For some reason, I become ravenous with the change of seasons from summer to autumn. I fully understand.

Joanne Noragon said...

I had a wonderful weekend myself. It included baclava and muffins, among other things. I weighed three extra pounds this morning. Good job I enjoyed the good things when I ate tem.

Watson said...

It is absolutely necessary to stock up on chocolate for the winter - also pasta, cheese, cake and yes, even squash soup. Otherwise you are liable to freeze to death. Honest. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Lynn said...

Oh, Pearl! I love you! Thanks for the justification!!

chlost said...

Well, after all of that cooking, cleaning and baking activity, you obviously needed to get some sustenance. I am sure that the calories expended just equalled those injested. Right?? And if not, they will all balance out somewhere along the line. Aren't you living on the 3rd floor? Just a few more trips up and down will take care of it. Totally worth it.
And I want some of those brownies described above to go with the chocolate chip cookies at your place.
And keep in mind....clothing size is just an arbitrary number assigned to a piece of fabric. The highest number wins, right?

The Cranky said...

Homemade pizza....roast turkey with roast tatties, gravy, caramel apple cobbler.

Yup, definitely time to fill up and then hibernate!

Kana said...

I'm not sure why, but it's happening here too - the rodent instinct to stuff yo' cheeks has driven me to cook - like, actually cook. With ingredients and bake times and everything. It's amazing, what biology can propel us to do; jump up waterfalls to spawn, fly across oceans to find the next warmest continent, even follow recipes. Crazy stuff.

Craver Vii said...

Eating is good. Sweet & sour chicken is a family favorite, here. But thinking about that conjures up the rest of the smells that usually accompany the chicken. Fried rice, crab rangoon, etc. Mmmmm...

Mel said...

Well you weren't alone in this, that is certain. Not satisfied with my standard comfort food, the giant pot of beef stew, even better served over a pile of pasta, I ventured down a new culinary path and made Chana Dal, a wonderful Indian dish, even better served over a pile of rice. In a pinterest fueled frenzy, I capped off my weekend with cinnamon roll pancakes drizzled in sugary frosting AND maple syrup. That's all I'm willing to admit to at this point, but trust me, this weekend got pretty degrading calorie-count wise.

I need it to get really cold really fast so I can wear bulky clothes.

At least our homes smell yummy, yes?

Lynn said...

Hmmm...I made lasagna just for me yesterday, too - must be a trend. :)

Linda O'Connell said...

Same here! I think I'm bulking up for the impending winter. Ugh!

Gigi said...

I definitely like the way @chlost thinks! The highest number wins!

jenny_o said...

And why is it that salad no longer appeals? It's all designed to make us roly-poly. That way, when we slip on the ice (it's coming!) we won't hurt anything too critical. Except our heads. And therefore, it's also time to start wearing a toque :)

Charlotte Ann said...

and for me it's a big bowl of chicken and sausage Gumbo I'm beginning to crave. I haven't stirred up a pot yet but I did pay 7.00 for a small bowl of it a few days ago..something I detest doing. How much can a chicken, some sausage, onions, bell pepper and roux cost? It's a rip off..I'm tellin ya, but I bought it anyway!

Dr. Kathy McCoy said...

Ah, the rituals of autumn. Where you live, you really do need a bit of polar bear insulation, Pearl. Chocolate chip cookie dough....I just gained a pound thinking about it!

sophanne said...

It was beef stew cut into tiny bite size pieces and cooked in the crock pot followed by banana bread for me. This was on what I had taken as a cleaning day off from work. What other life secrets Md rituals do we all share that we do not speak of? Yours was so eerily familiar.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

My place smells the same as yours. 'Tis the season, damnit. Yet I have yet to start the real baking-eating.

xoRobyn

Rose L said...

Ahh, the scents alone will put 2 pounds on me. I wish someone would invent a pill to take which would prevent weight from attaching after over-indulging.

Tempo said...

As the leaves fall from your trees they bud and bloom here in OZ. As you slip into the coldness our days get hotter. (high 20's- low 30's now)

Elephant's Child said...

Only one size up? Doing well. And winters over there require some padding I understand.

Moving with Mitchell said...

I've never really had that "pants are too tight" problem, but I've had friends who have done the lay-down trick. I've always thought it must be really painful, once zipped, to stand back up.

Candy's daily Dandy said...

Yes, food is love.

And that can sometimes be a big problemo.

Pat said...

Knowing what a hard worker you are I'm confident you will burn it off.