While the rest of the country is transitioning into fall it’s still sunny and warm where I live in northern California.  It’ll probably stay this way until November.  Ugh!  What am I complaining about you ask?  Well I'm absolutely sick of summer food! Salads, grilled meats, and the over abundance of vegetables from the garden.  I want some comfort food but can one really enjoy a nice risotto or other wonderful heavy hot pasta dish when its hot out?  Then I get an email, from a friend who knows I have too many vegetables, for a Zucchini Risotto recipe.  I know she was trying to help but that was the last straw!  I was craving comfort but must I take it with my currently least favorite (as in I'm sooo sick of) vegetable?  That's like eating a fat free dessert instead of cake and ice cream on your birthday.  It’s just mean and I refused to do it.

So what were my options?  I was dreaming of a luscious macaroni and cheese or a creamy wild mushroom risotto not lettuce and grilled veggies.  I could have put the AC on really really low so I could enjoy the meal in the climate its meant to be consumed in but I just couldn't waste the energy on something so hedonistic.  As my mother said I could have just waited until it gets colder here - perhaps we'll have a cold spell in mid-October.  Or as Husband said just have it - heat be damned.  But I just couldn't do that.  I mean its not really just the food is it?  Its the comfort you get from eating a heavy hot dish when its raining outside (or snowing depending on where you live), when the house is chilly, when your feet are cold from the cold floor underfoot, and when the aromas of the meal are locked in the house because all of the windows and doors are sealed.  Ahhh the comfort. 

So I decided I'd visit my parents in Buffalo NY.  Buffalo in September what could be a better way to get comfort food?  Sigh - they were having a heat spell.  I just don't have good luck.  The day we allotted for the four cheese macaroni and cheese it was in the 80's!  But with only a short visit and other things planned I really had no choice but to just go ahead and made it.  Yes it tasted good but did it fulfill my need for comfort?  Well let's just say it was so hot while we were eating I had to open the window to cool off.  So that settles it, I should have listened to Mom, next year I just have to wait for the comfort until it really gets cold...