Instinct

What is it, during this season, where the days get shorter and the nights get cooler, that makes me want to be a squirrel?

I sat in a meeting yesterday, and instead of taking notes, my mind wandered.

Tacos for dinner tonight- and we're having friends over tomorrow! I'll make the filling for the chicken pot pie tonight. And there are so many apples on my counter! We must have apple pie! But when I make apple pie filling, I might as well process all the apples and can the leftovers. Or should I freeze them? Or should I just dump all the apples & pears in the crockpot & make applesauce? And all that ground beef in the freezer that I got on sale. I should brown some of it & make taco meat. And meatballs! That will save me time later! The tomatoes I harvested a while back really need to be used. I should make marinara sauce and freeze it. Or pizza sauce! And the pizza crust recipe my friend just posted! I've been wanting to try that, too. I wonder if the recipe would double & freeze well...

And the thoughts go on...

Where does this come from? It wasn't until I got out of college that I started having this instinctual urge to bake like crazy when the weather turned colder. Last year I went through SO much flour and sugar. I made quite a few pies. Can't have too many pies, right?

Last year I attributed the motivation to cook to having a New Kitchen- cooking is just more fun in a new space, right? The year before, it was my first time cooking holiday dishes and treats, and I attributed the motivation to the novelty. But this year? Nothing novel, but the urge to bake and squirrel away food for the coming winter is still there.

I'll blame it on our new-to-us and still mostly-empty chest freezer, as well as my new skill at canning, and figure out where the urge comes from next year. No time to think! I must get back to the kitchen!