Beggars, Peanuts, Candy Corn

Ah, my favorite month of the year. As exemplified by this week, you can get warm temperatures, or snow. There's something to please everyone.

On Wednesday I was walking over to lunch when a beggar asked for money for food. Perhaps I shouldn't share this, because it could seem like bragging and nullify any charity I did. But I invited him to come to lunch with me, and he accepted. I tried to strike up conversation, but it was a little awkward, since I'm an awkward, quiet person, and he wasn't a conversationalist, and I didn't feel like I could ask my regular questions because it could make him uncomfortable. I didn't think I could ask about education or occupation, and outside of those, what can you talk about? I asked about his family, but he doesn't even know where his siblings live because they don't talk to him. So I didn't think even that was a safe topic. We--or at least I--tend to think of the beggars as addicts. But watching him eat (and order a warm sandwich and hot coffee) reminded me that regardless of whatever addictions they may have (I know he was at least addicted to cigarettes), they still have basic human needs. In fact, I felt more compassion so that I gave him some extra money at the end. He said it was for a bus fare to his mom's house in Ogden. There's definitely something weird there, since it's counterproductive to use money to take a bus from Ogden just to ask for money for food in Salt Lake. But I kind of didn't care if he was going to use it inappropriately, since I knew he did have appropriate needs.

On Saturday my sister and niece and I went to see The Peanuts Movie. I suspect most of you know I'm a big Peanuts fan. I've read almost all of the strips (most of them are online--maybe all of them are now), and I own a lot of the TV specials, and I own lots of clothing and other fan items. (I've become less inclined to get them anymore, since they just paste a few stock pictures on the memorabilia and then draw on the pictures to make them "different" or seasonal.) Therefore, this movie had great potential to disappoint. I'm happy to say it did not.

First off was the animation. When they announced that it was going to be computer generated images, I thought that was a horrible idea. (I was expecting it to look more like this. Vomitrocious!) You guys have probably all seen the trailers, so you know it wasn't usual CGI. I found it quite charming and clever the way they blended the CGI with the 2D look. It's the most innovative animation I've seen since The Lego Movie. (OK, The Lego Movie wasn't that long ago. So Lego Movie and Peanuts Movie were the most innovative animation I've seen since Toy Story.)

And I think the story and the dialog were pretty true to the original. There were some things that bothered me--like how Meghan Trainor songs seem a little out of place. But then I remembered the 1980s Peanuts specials, which weren't very good and had weird songs. (The musician who replaced Vince Guaraldi in the mid-70s was named Ed Bogas. From then on, the Peanuts music was literally Bogus. The joke writes itself.) Honestly, this movie is truer to Peanuts than the 80s shows were, even though Schulz was alive then. This was a great movie.

Just so you know, there is something after the credits. Everyone else in the theater walked out and missed it. But it's not much--kind of along the lines of what they did after Frozen.

Also, some places have called this the first Peanuts movie. It's definitely the first of its kind, but it's not the first. There were four theatrical movies: A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969, the trippiest movie I've ever seen, but it's quite charming), Snoopy Come Home (which featured songs by the Sherman Brothers, who did the music for Mary Poppins), Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977) and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (1980; these latter movies feel more like TV movies. I haven't seen Bon Voyage in its entirety, but I just bought it, so I will watch it soon).

Anyway, I don't intend this blog to be a movie review site (most of the time). The 45-degree weather was perfect running temperature, so yesterday (Saturday) I did the longest out-and-back run from my house that I've done, since my trail running days are numbered for the season. I went up to Tunnel Springs Park, then past the radio towers, then a portion of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail past that--but not quite as far as Ensign Peak. Then my knee started hurting. I don't know whether it was my old shoes or my lack of strength training. I'll have to do more leg exercises.

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This week's Pumpkinundation Roundup is largely a candy corn roundup, since this is the week I buy lots of clearance candy to use for Thanksgiving, since I don't know how long it will stick around. I always go overboard, but I'm trying to improve. (Baby steps.) It's this time of year that ruins my dreams of becoming an underwear model. (Just kidding.)

 (This is irrelevant, but you have no idea how happy I am that some of the Cuties have Thanksgiving stickers! It also proves that I do sometimes eat healthy things.)

 After an institute activity there was homemade pumpkin chocolate chip bread. (Since I ate this I refrained from eating cookies.) It was good.

 I find it a little puzzling that Candy Corn M&Ms are more common than plain white chocolate ones. They're good if you like white chocolate. They're better than the Hershey's candy corn bars. (A funny side note about M&Ms. In 2013 and 2014, Target's exclusive M&M flavor was pumpkin spice, which sold out really early in 2013. This year, they switched to pumpkin spice latté. Not being a coffee drinker, I didn't get those. But when I went to Target on Friday--five days after Halloween--most of the fall M&Ms were gone; there were a few Crispy ones (which I had to get since it's been years) and a few candy corn ones. But there were literally shelves and shelves of the PSL M&Ms! I don't know whether it's because they were gross, or because there are lots of non-coffee drinkers around here.)

 Brach's Autumn Mix is a Thanksgiving standard. They come with plain candy corn, and I think Brach's candy corn is the best brand. They come with Indian corn, which has chocolate tips. I like them, but I'm sad they no longer have white tips. And then the pumpkins are good too. But these are only good when they're fresh. Also, you can't eat too many or you get way sick of them.

 Before a temple night this week, someone shared this dessert. I can't remember what it was called--gooey pumpkin butter cake? Whatever it was, it was amazing.

 This Stephen's Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa is fairly tasty, and you get a big whiff of spices when you open it. But it doesn't really taste like cocoa or pumpkin. It has an orange color that's both festive and a little disconcerting.

 I went to try the new Arby's Pumpkin Cheesecake Shake. This is an interesting item, since it's not a shake flavored like pumpkin, but a shake flavored like something flavored like pumpkin. For the first few sips, I could just taste the pumpkin, and it was pretty good. Then the "cheesecake" kicked in. It was awful. I'm not a big fan of cheesecake, but if this actually tasted like cheesecake, it would have been fine. It was more like plain cream cheese. Except that I don't remember cream cheese being so bitter, but then again I never had it in a shake like this. I hope that next year they see the error of their ways and do something different with the pumpkin. For now I'll stick with the minty shakes they do for Christmas and St. Patrick's Day.

 Since I quite enjoyed their pumpkin spice Cup Cakes, I had to try the Hostess Candy Corn Cup Cakes. They have the colored sprinkles, but that's the only connection I noticed to candy corn. It just tasted like plain cake. But then again, what flavor is candy corn?

 I actually got these Charms Candy Corn Pops for my cousin who's on a mission, since at Thanksgiving two years ago we had some and he wanted to go buy some. But I did take one out of the bag for the purpose of this roundup. These taste almost exactly like butterscotch. Which is good if you like butterscotch.

 Every year I get Candy Corn Taffy (which I think is made by Sweet's here in Salt Lake), even though they're not overly flavorful and can be sickeningly sweet.

 I refrained from getting caramel candy corn and instead got Brach's Peanut Butter Cup Candy Corn, which I haven't had before. The white tips are plain, the tan middle is supposed to be peanut butter, and the brown ends are chocolate. But I think it's a different chocolate than the Indian corn. They taste very artificial. I mean, they are artificial, but they don't have to taste that way!

 I do like Starburst Candy Corn. The reds are cherry, the pinks are strawberry, the oranges are orange, and the yellows are yellow. I mean lemon. It's Starburst flavor in a candy corn texture, although I think they're not as smooth as regular candy corn. I don't care much for the cherry (I don't know if it's the flavoring or the coloring), but I like the strawberry ones.

I used the pie pumpkin I roasted last week to make Pumpkin Black-Bean Turkey Chili. It had peppers, onions, garlic, cumin, chili powder, turkey (I used ground turkey), pumpkin, tomatoes, and chicken broth. I liked it, but it wasn't as flavorful as I had hoped, even though I accidentally spilled spices in it.

 

After seeing The Peanuts Movie, we went to Corner Bakery, where I got this Pumpkin Whoopee Pie. It was very good, but there was slightly too much filling.

My sister let me sample her Gingerbread Pumpkin Bundt Cake, something that's suitable for Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. But it just tasted like ordinary spice cake to me. Which is good, but not unique.

I got these Wilton Pumpkin Spice Candy Melts to put in little Thanksgiving molds I have. (My niece did most of the candy making.) Now, these candy melts are meant to be decorative more than they're meant to taste good; but you'd think that if they bother to change the flavor, they'd bother to make them taste better. They still taste pretty plasticky, but with spices. I mean, I'll still eat them, but they're by no means great candy.

And then I bought some Walmart pumpkin pies for an event, and they were typical pumpkin pies. Which means they were good.