What is a girl to do?

Autumn is here, the days are growing shorter. The sunlight is sharp and the shadows long. At night, the stars cast their cold light from the crystal dome of the sky. There's a definite nip in the air ... and as always in autumn, also the fruits of the land and sea are coming in. 

It must be some gene, a cellular memory so strongly embedded in a woman's consciousness that it simply cannot be resisted - to cook, to make jams and jellies, to salt meat and fish, to tuck away in larders and cellars all those riches so that in the cold months of the winter, the family would not have to go hungry. 

Sa far, so good.
The only problem is, that the family, in my case, is very small. And yet I cannot stop: I have been baking apple cakes of every sort and order, have salted salmon, pickled mushrooms, made jam, cooked venison ... and, as if it was not enough, I have started making pizzas again. Yes, pizzas! 

The result? I cook and enjoy. Everybody (myself included) eats and enjoys. And puts on weight. Even the dog is ballooning up. 

In the words of Susan Ivanova: All my life I spent fighting imperialism... Now, *I'm* the expanding Russian frontier! Dr. Stephen Franklin: But with very nice borders ...

I hope it's going to be a COLD winter. At least in that case, we'll be able to make use of some of the fat we are so happily accumulating now!