The Chestnut Man

A man has set up in recent weeks outside our apartment selling roasted chestnuts. We found the smell odd at first--a mixture of propane fuel, burned toast and something vaguely sweet. I buy some almost every day, even though neither Matt nor I particularly like chestnuts. But for 10 HK$ (about 1.25 US) I get some seasonality. I know eating "seasonally" has become hip lately, but for a girl who grew up in a gardening family, eating tomatoes in August and squash in October is just what we did. And now in a place where autumn means temperatures in the 70's instead of the 80's, I need another way to mark time, not so that it passes quickly, but so that I recognize its passage. I keep looking for new fruits in the market or new vegetables in my weekly farm delivery, but so far, the chestnut man is what I've got. So we eat chestnuts. And the smell is growing on us--it's starting to smell like fall.      

 

[caption id="attachment_206" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The chestnut man"][/caption]