Dear Readers,

I haven’t had much to say lately. In the dark part of the year, I cook more, but what I eat varies less, and I have described in previous posts most of the things I eat regularly. November has brought the temporary return of radicchio-date-feta salad, which I love, between its salty, sweet and bitter notes and the fact that I can throw together a large bowl of it in ten minutes or less. The other night since I had had dates in my breakfast oatmeal I just tossed the radicchio with feta and citrus dressing and added a few cut-up apple slices leftover from an earlier snack (I prefer the date version, but the apple variation was fine: those of you already thinking about colorful side dishes for the holidays might think about making it with dried cranberries).

I was wondering last January what to use to brighten up my buffet: the storage piece sits below my staircase. In summer and early fall I fill a vase with fresh flowers, or sometimes one lone blossom; in late December I set out an array of Christmas tins filled with homemade cookies, but after I put my Christmas tins away the buffet looks bare. After the flowers were gone from the farmers market I bought a few sale mangoes and, two weeks ago, a glut of Honeycrisp apples, so, for now, a teal ceramic bowl holds ripening mangoes and a wooden salad bowl contains apples. Ah, the fruit bowl as a seasonal brightener. Oranges and lemons should work in January and a gardener I know suggested forcing paper whites. White, of course, is not a true color, but the narcissi will have green stems to relieve the winter grays and I can plant them in a bright pot or bowl.

Today I managed to walk to town to do errands between rainstorms (We’ve had about a week of rain with another half-week in the forecast). I enjoyed the brief presence of sunlight and a temperature of 50 F, little lovely pieces of luck.

At the farmers market I watched a farmer construct a bouquet of late red dahlias and blue borage for a customer while I waited to buy small green, tart McIntosh apples — I figure they might combine well with Honeycrisps in a pie. I have never had a Washington-grown McIntosh — I might like them here: the same variety of apple can have a different taste or a different texture grown in a different climate. I am understanding that apples are the fruit right now: I buy apple pastries from a bread vendor each week she is there (she makes sourdough puff pastry, which is not beyond me, but is more work than I want to do). Her pastries are tart, so, after I reheat one, I sift a bit of powdered sugar over it, a simple thing that makes it more special.

When I stopped by another booth to buy carrots, I saw that the farmer had tender baby bok choi. It’s lovely to get a new vegetable in mid-November when we are turning toward the seemingly endless rounds of potatoes, carrots, beets and kale, sometimes relieved by Brussels sprouts. Another vendor had small fresh arugula, another little thing to brighten this week’s meals.

I wish you all little things to brighten the cold months.