The Quilt Inn Country Cookbook

Aliske Webb

Giving Thanks

My all time favorite time of the year is the Autumn. There is no time that feels

healthier or more invigorating to me. I love the feel of warm, sunny Fall days when the

air is crisp and clean. The faint smell of leaves burning somewhere and the sight of

squirrels hustling, bustling and burying frantically, reminds me that the cold Winter is

coming and I should relish these last warm days. Walking through the woods, kicking

multitudes of splendid-colored leaves, takes me back to a carefree childhood. It’s the

best time of year to fall in love, walking hand in hand through the woods.

Having already given up their bounty, the fruit trees are almost bare of leaves.

The last few survivors rattle forlornly in the breeze blowing throughthe orchard but if you

cross the orchard diagonally from the Inn you’ll come to a break in the stone wall where

there’s a gate into the still leafy woods and meadow beyond. In the Fall, when the sun

lies slantwise across the sky, the woods seem to glow with a special dappled light

especially in the late afternoon.

A half a mile up the path, if you stop at the lightning blasted old oak tree stump

and look to your left, you can see the ruins of a tiny stone shack. I often wonder about

the pioneer who made the one room shelter. Was he an early homesteader blazing the

trail into an unknown countryside? Was he a lonely “mountain man”, or was there a

woman and a family there keeping him company and enduring the hardships? I can

imagineThanksgivingmust have been especially meaningful to them, giving thanks for

an abundant harvest that would see them through a long Winter.

When you return to the Inn, check out the quilt hanging in the dining room. It’s

called Autumn Splendor and is a bargello pattern design in a riot of green, gold and

rust colors to capture the look of the hills and the valley around the Inn. It hangs

opposite the window wall, so that it reflects the colors outside like a mirror in fabric. In

Autumn, colors, smells and food come together in a glorious patchwork of all the

senses. Below the quilt we set a long narrow serving table decorated with rustic

baskets full of orange and yellow gourds, along with juicy red apples and toasty brown

nuts. A bottle of tawny Sherry and glasses stand warming by a crisp fire. Help yourself.

Published by Bookmice.com

Country Cooking