If You Can’t Stand the Heat…

Many consider Southern California one of the nation’s hotspots.  And after suffering from record 113° degree heat last week I am inclined to agree.   Yes, life here on Planet Mercury can seriously shake your chakra when you’re naturally a cold weather gal, and the A/C’s on all night to quell hot flashes.

Now, overall, So Cal climate is just fine.  I love the sensational summer evenings with wine and nibbles on the patio till eight-ish, plus the freedom to frolic year-round in the great outdoors.  Still, I miss the change of the seasons, and can’t wait for the first signs of fall in L.A.  Temperatures plummeting to—OMG—sixty-five degrees!   A Presto Log® casting its faux glow and effete heat across the living room.  That sort of thing.

How I yearn for the incessant rain, cold and ever-grey skies of Portland, Oregon, where I was born and my mother, Peg Bracken, lived the majority of her life.   I am so her daughter!

Born in Filer, Idaho, and bred in Missouri, Mom married and soon made her way out to the Pacific Northwest, commencing a life-long love for the City of Roses.  Though she did—at the urging of her then husband—move to Hawaii, she ultimately inflamed a case of island fever with a loathing for the heat and moved back to her beloved town.  There she lived happy as a clam in the Columbia River till her final days.

Crank up the fire!  Curl up on the couch with a cat, comforter and e.e. cummings!   The worse the weather got the more Mom liked it.  Perhaps it was because of this, and Sixties sensibilities, that so many I Hate to Cook Book recipes are hearty autumn and winter “belly timber:” perfect for warming one’s cockles, and easy to make when you arrive home after sundown. 

I suggest trying Philosopher’s Chowder, Honest John’s Clam Chowder, Chilly-Night Chili or the now-iconic Stayabed Stew.    And while you’re at it, won’t you please crank down the thermostat?

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