Homecoming

I got my pepper plants back last week - they will winter with me in the apartment in front of eastward windows with the blinds permanently drawn. I don't have a lawn so my parents graciously took care of them over the summer. I have ten plants all together. Most of them are different variations of habanero ranging from the fantastically hot chocolate habanero to the delicate suggestion of heat from the aji dulce that still retains the habanero flavor. The summer heat nearly destroyed any hopes I had of a harvest but all ten plants have fruit on them.
With autumn cool settling in, I finally got to make the gumbo I've been wanting all summer. To kick-start the creative process and work up a ferocious appetite, I went to Chuck Taggert's Gumbo Pages - I don't stray much from my wife's recipe other than making the roux with peanut oil instead of butter (I don't worry about burning it as much).
I got a fire on the grill going to smoke the sausage & the wings and the legs of the chicken over pecan - it's probably a silly step to add to such a lengthy process but I don't care.
I made stock out of the chicken and chop up vegetables, including fresh okra from the store & my own peppers - big jims and sweet cayennes...
And you know what? It just felt good.
It wasn't the greatest week to get through but I got through it.
Whatever comes this week, I know I can eat gumbo along the way, the "Rolls-Royce of soups".