Late summer

This patch of earth is leaning gradually away from the sun's killer rays. Perhaps it is just a subconscious awareness of the shortening of the daylight hours that makes me think that, but the nights seem to cool a little earlier now.

It is also the time of the chile harvest. The grocery store has big gunny sacks that look like the first woven fiber created by man full of chiles and labeled (the labels also look like the first paper created by man) either mild, medium or hot in either green, blue or red marker. People buy their sacks and wait patiently in line to get the chiles roasted at the rotary roaster set up in the parking lot. The chiles are roasted until their skins char, then they are taken home and put in freezer bags.

The chiles that grow around here are claimed to be the finest. Chile epicures also know that hot medium or mild is a highly subjective designation assigned by the grower. I've been told that Barkers of Hatch chiles are actually either hot, extremely hot or assburning hot.

Heat is only part of the story. The green chiles grown here have a beautiful flavor to go with the heat. Strangely, to me they are a comfort food, adding a reassuring zest to any dish in which they appear. Even apple pie.

The local McDonalds will put green chiles in hamburgers on request, and that is good.