Seckel Pears

Happy New Year! I wish you another great year. What are your new year's resolutions? I have plenty. One of those is to make my blog more fruitful. I will upload more paintings more often. Maybe... By the way, I like the word "fruitful." (Don't you?) It's very visual. "Full of fruit," so it is fruitful. As winter gets deeper, chilly air freeze my cheeks. There are fewer vegetables and fewer farmers at the market. Hot apple cider seems to be the only solution for warming up. Potatoes and other root vegetables are the main cast in a winter market. I know how delicious those are, but this day was like doomsday. Potatoes didn't cheer me up. I passed a fruit farmer, and various kinds of beautiful red color of apples reminded me that I was going to make an illustrated apple guide. Then, I saw a girl next me grab some small dark pears. Yes, she literally grabbed those and put them into a plastic bag which was almost bursting with the weight. I asked her if the pears were delicious. She told me everything she knew about the pear in one breath. It was so quick that I only got "very delicious" and "ripen faster if I wrap it with..." With something, but her words were lost in the chilly air. I barely could manage saying "Thank you." but she left before I finished with "for telling me that."

So, I decided to get some. The were sweet and had rich texture. I had some in my salad, and it matched well with walnuts. I'm thinking about simmering them in red wine. The seckel pear compote should be good with the blue cheese I have in my fridge!