Breakfast in Autumn

I have a lot planned for today so we're going to need a good breakfast, you wander into the kitchen bleary eyed to see the striking colour of fresh orange juice in a wine glass, and a steaming pot of coffee, with two cups, please feel free to help yourself, while I stand by the cooker making the porridge.

My parents have a lot of books at home, so many there's not room for them on our six (I just had to count then) bookshelves so a lot of them are still in boxes, cases, dusty yet appealing. In these books they keep drawing by my siblings and I as children, letters from friends, an old photograph, an obituary of a writer or musician they admired, and when you open these books these neglected yet treasured pieces of paper tumble out, sometimes so old they crumble in your fingers as you seek to unfold them. It was in one such book that I found the following magically wintery recipe for porridge.

It is by a food writer called Lesley Wild, who apparently wrote a book called A Year of Family Recipes a book I might actually get in spite of it's wholesome title

The following recipe serves two hungry people and sets you up for a long autumnal walk

100g porridge oats each

a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 

half a teaspoon of allspice

600ml full fat milk

2 Handfuls of dried fruit (Lesley suggests raisins, apricots and currants, however I would like to try this with fresh bramley apples)

2 Handfuls of unsalted nuts (almonds, cashews brazils) broken but not completely crushed (I'd just put them in a bag and hit it with a rolling pin, but just because I'm not advanced enough to own a pestle and mortar)

The recipe is simple, you place the oats in the pan with the cinnamon and spices, pour over the milk and a pinch of salt and stir. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and allow to gently simmer for five - seven minutes,  stirring constantly to ensure it doesn't stick. Add the dried fruits (or chopped fresh apple if you want to play with the recipe) and the crushed nuts, mix it all together and serve with demera sugar

While I stand by the hob stirring (NO, I don't want any help, I find it therapeutic) we chat about our plan for the day, and our conversation continues as we sit down and eat our steaming porridge.

Season of mists....and my Mother's Biba frock

It is always with a sense of sadness that I welcome Autumn. Yes, I do love the way the trees change colour, the crispy blue September skies, the dappled shadows on the pavements, but there's also the sense of something winding up, coming to an end. The slight chilliness is not like that of early spring evenings, when you wrap your light bolero a little tighter round your shoulders and bravely stride forward, there is none of the sense of promise, of being on the cusp of something, of waiting for the year  to come to life. No the coldness of autumn has to be tackled with thick tights, cashmere jumpers, winter coats, hardy boots (and if you live in Edinburgh you better use a suede protecter too.)

Yet there is also something comforting about Autumn, just as it doesn't have the edginess of spring or the headiness of summer, it does have something more relaxed, more chilled out. Autumn whispers to you, why go out tonight if you don't want to? The Autumn skies are beautiful, and if you lie stay in you can wacth them as they change colour, also as the leaves become crisper your bed suddenly seems more appealing in the evenings.

There is also the soft magic of autumnal walks, the desire that everyone knows from childhood to kick up leaves, and crunch them underfoot. I also still feel a childish thrill at seeing a large conker, shiny like a perfect chocolate, nestled amid a sea of yellow and orange, and I still feel the desire to pick it up, to feel it  cold in my hand and to know that I am the finder.

Yet in Autumn I miss summer and spring, I miss daylight, I long for the days to stay long, to stay bright, for it not to be necessary to put on hat and scarf, even a hat and scarf from Topshop.

I don't know how many people feel the same as me about Autumn but below I have written about a perfect Autumn day in Edinburgh, from morning to night..this day will appear in anstallations on my blog, because it's kind of long, and some of you may want to pick and choose which parts of this fantastical journey you accompany me on

Firstly we get up at eight, or I do anyway, you can lie in bed a little longer whilst I prepare the breakfast in the lovely light kitchen my flat has, overlooking the water of Leith