Autumn's arrival in Japan

Today was the first day of fall; incidentally, it was also the first chilly day in many long, hot, humid months laced with typhoons.

In Japan, it is one of 15 national holidays.

In an attempt to use up the contents of my most recent CSA box from Nagano, I used carrots, onions, and generous amounts of celery leaves to create a homemade stock based on Beard and Bonnet.

That in turn was used to cook spiced millet with currants in my Zojirushi IH rice cooker, which was used to fill gorgeous baby green peppers from a family farm.

As a main dish, I made Mediterranean Living's salmon with yogurt on a bed of Meyer lemons.

And just for fun, I made the grape and rosemary buns from Gennaro's Italian Bakery cookbook:

I also tried my hand at traditional wagashi in honor of fall moon viewing: