Written for the Los Altos Town Crier October is a month of memory-infused cooking for me. It is harvest season in the fields and in my heart as I bring loved ones and past times to life through food. A recipe’s capacity to hold events and lives is a primary reason I so love cooking. There are times when I feel myself moving my hands just as my mom would have when making one of her recipes. These moments fill me with deep connection and comfort.  My nostalgic mood aligns with the current temperament of the natural world, where the toil of months of growth gives way to release and rest. Strolls in my neighborhood offer the setting to languish in the letting go of autumn and plan dishes that bring loved ones to my mind and to my table.  Celebrating the flavors of the autumn     In my 20s, I had a talented and hilarious friend named John. He was real and righteous; he was also battling a recurrence of colon cancer. With his diagnosis uncommon for a man in his early ...