Missing the flavor of you (Fall)

What is it that I have been missing?  I admit that technology has made moving so far away from New York easier to deal with , between facebook and email I am kept up to date on the little details, thanks to unlimited long distance, Skype and even Google Earth I am able to hear my families voices, see their faces, go on tours of new apartments and even spy on them from above.  It is my memory though that I rely on the most when I start feeling homesick

I have a very good memory for detail and can mentaly reenact entire scenes and moments of my life, often getting caught “daydreaming” in public while I do so.  Sometimes this is terrible, just recently I went mentally step-by-step through the process of lighting and smoking a cigarette in a windy car, and though I quit over a year and a half ago this little memory dalliance left me craving nicotine like I had just quit.  I have been doing this a lot lately (not as destructively as smoking a cigarette) and it is what first cued me in to the fact that I was missing New York.

I caught myself mentally getting of the subway (in New York City) at Astor Place and walking through the village looking at all the piercing shops and restaurants, wandering my way through until I would find myself waiting in line outside of the Nuyorican Poets café.  I would be walking outside in the 95 degree California weather thinking about walking to work in the snow, my chin tucked tight to my chest as I watched each boot encase foot plow through the fresh flakes.

Mostly, though, I have been envisioning fall.  Fall is my weakness.  Fall could probably push me back to the East Coast faster than anything else, though hopefully I would have the sense to remember that after fall comes winter and I would not trade in a Sacramento winter for a New York one for all the Fall in the world.  This does not stop my romantic little mind from reminiscing on all of the things that I love about this upcoming season and missing New York.

Yesterday I had a wake up call from all of my fall musings in the form of peaches…  and figs…  and peppers and melons and almonds and tomatoes and plums.  It might have hit 100 degrees today and yes I might find that a little hard to deal with but I live in a place that I can go pick all of those glorious treats on September 6th.  Fresh, ripe and begging to remind me of just why I chose this place I now call home, and why it was a damn good decision. 

I have plans to make a spiced peach butter that I found here, and maybe a plum sauce if I find a recipe I like, I am also thinking of jarring some roasted red peppers and maybe some pickles.  In New York fall would be coming soon, and normally that would mean I would start baking, here in California I am just getting around to canning the summer bounty, and I am not even late!  I will always be in love with New York fall and I really hope that next year I will get the money together to fly home just in time to get a little taste of the season.  In the meantime I will rely on my memory, and keep myself afloat with the flavors of fresh figs.