Beacon

The sign said, "Year Round Farmers Market" and though we were going to the Dia Beacon, a quick detour was not only in order, we had some time before the museum opened anyway...

A table was being set up for hot apple cider and a few other small tables were outside and I worried they were the only vendors, until Kelli brilliantly walked over to the building which serves as the cold weather shelter for the marketers. A low buzz of the shoppers could be heard as they hoovered around the various baskets and barrels of both fresh and prepared foods, dips, salsa and pottery, talking it over amongst themselves and with the individual shopkeepers. We looked over the small sample of wines being offered for sale and returned to the traditional vegetables.

I bought the squash pictured above with the initial sole intention of decorating my Thanksgiving table, but as soon as I started to fish my cash out of my wallet, I realized this was highly impractical, illogical and not like me to simply use food as table art. I asked if I could roast the squash and would they make a good soup. My question was answered with an enthusiastic nod and though I'd like to think she wasn't trying to simply make a sale, follow up about the soup at a later date.

We've made our purchases and are off to the museum!

No photography in the museum, flash or no flash. We walk and talk and wonder about the definition of art. How do you define art? Is a photo or drawing of art, also art? If it evokes emotion, is it art? If it leaves you flat, is it art? I wonder now, what is the equal definition of literary - why can't a comic book be literature? Or is it?

All of our wondering, leaves me hungry. But first, a quick walk...

A garden for all seasons. Colors and shapes, angles and vistas. Rather than sketching a picture, a quick outline for a story may begin to form - who is going to walk around the corner? Were they waiting for someone or walking away from something?

Off to the cafe...and the sausage and kale soup with a slice of pumpkin sage bread and a meyer lemon "Grown Up Soda" (the brand is GUS) and a table next to the window, in the sun.

The soup has a gentle heat from using hot sausage, not too much that you cannot enjoy the soup, but enough you are aware of it. The toasted bread rounds offer a nice toasty texture yet yield and can be broken by the spoon in the broth. The pumpkin sage bread has a crisp and sweet crust, but it is the fragrance of the sage that commands the diners undivided attention. The meyer lemon soda is a bit more carbonated than the popular brands of pop, but has a crisper more mature flavor without the overbearing sweetness of lemonade.









Kelli orders a grilled roasted butternut squash sandwich with goat cheese and arugula with a small side salad. It looked lovely but really did not photograph well, but the Maple Seltzer below seemed to be a bigger flavor hit for her. Feeling it needed a little more zip, she suggests perhaps a bit of pesto would have added that missing something.

Back outside to the sunny warmth of a crisp Autumn Sunday right before Thanksgiving.

The adventure continued after the meal with a trip to a library book sale, but for now the story stops here.