Living in the October moment

I get a great deal of satisfaction out of living my life by the seasons and holidays.

Sometimes, though, I find it hard to stay in the moment. For example, as a junk food reviewer, I'm often looking ahead to future seasons, since the foods come out early--hence I review summer foods in the spring, fall foods in the summer, and winter foods in the fall.

But I'm trying to live in the moment. And what a great moment October is!

I just love the color scheme of orange and black. I love changing leaves. I love creating a spooky (but not scary) atmosphere. I love that we practically worship apples and pumpkins--not because I love those flavors per se, but because there is no other time of the year when seasonal flavors infiltrate so much. I think the fall even has Christmas beat in that aspect.

I have been taking advantage of the best this season has to offer.

Our neighbor's apple tree hangs into our yard, and I love collecting the apples and turning them into other things. We have our own apple tree as well, but it doesn't produce as much. Apples are the greatest fruit ever. They might not taste as good as pineapple or grapes, but they are by far the most convenient and versatile. And they have a long shelf life, unlike some fruits I know. *glares at strawberries*

Anyway, last week I picked apples, which I then helped peel and cut, and my mom made them into apple pudding and apple crisp.

 Then this week, I wanted to make a meal, so I made apple gratin, which also had walnuts, milk, and thyme.

 It wasn't that great, so I repurposed it into apple crisp. It's not as good as regular apple crisp, but it's better than it was before.

At work, I have lots of free reading time, so I bought a couple of academic books on the history of Halloween. Then I used the information so I could use a dingbat we have in the print shop. I wrote and typeset a paragraph about Halloween in America/Utah.

"Utah's pioneers probably did not celebrate Halloween, at least not in any big way. Hallowe'en became more popular in America later in the nineteenth century. By the turn of the twentieth, October 31 was celebrated with fortune telling, pranks, and vandalism. Trick-or-treating as we know it began around the 1930s and grew following World War II."

I have said before that nothing can beat a trail run on an autumn evening. I still think this to be true. Unfortunately, the leaves aren't as great this year. Last year, I remember them being spectacular, but they just aren't this year. For 2018, nothing will be as good as May's mulesears. But even though they are subpar, the leaves still are lovely. Leaves are another way where I can get ahead of the season: the foothills' trees peak in late September/early October, so I keep thinking, "It's over," even though it's not.

Yesterday I went up North Canyon, and there was tons of snow leftover from Wednesday's storm. I'm not used to seeing that much snow in October--and the trees aren't used to it either, because they had fallen all over the place.

Would you believe it if I told you this is a picture of the trail? There's just a massive tree in the way.

I've been getting a little bored with my Halloween playlist, so I've wanted to spice it up a little. This month, they finally released the "soundtrack" for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which is synonymous with Halloween for me. Unfortunately, the original soundtrack was lost, so they just took the music directly from the TV special. They edited out the dialog, but they kept the sound effects. It's weird and disappointing. But it's better than nothing (which is what we've had for fifty-two years), so I'll buy it this week. Then my Halloween playlist will have more than 170 songs.

Fall is just the most charming season.

***

Pumpkinundation roundup is another way I can get the most out of what the season has to offer. The pumpkin trend is still going strong, but I think it has slowed down. (The popular fall flavor now is maple, but maple is collected in the spring, not the fall!) Maybe one day in ten or twenty years the trend will have shifted and I'll be doing a roundup of some other seasonal flavor.

Caramel apples are part of the fall roundup, so I had this Marzetti Old Fashioned Light Caramel Dip with our own homegrown apples. It's a wonderful comfort food, plus you get the nutrients of the apple. 8/10.

Kneaders updated their calorie site, and I was surprised that the Kneaders Oreo Apple has fewer calories than the other flavors. It's more than five hundred calories, thanks to the white confection and the Oreos. But it's very tasty. 8/10.

I was impressed with the Maverik Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa. This is the most flavorful hot cocoa I've ever bought from a convenience store. It wasn't pumpkiny, but the spices gave it a delightful flavor. 8/10.

Trader Joe's Harvest Chili has pumpkin puree, squash, and other autumnal ingredients. It's vegan. It's not as flavorful as some other chilis, but I love the texture of the lentils and beans, and it's great to know that a pumpkin item is healthy for once. 7/10.

I put Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice in my apple crisp. But I don't know how to just rate the spice. I used it instead of cinnamon, but I should have added more of it, because the cinnamon flavor is diluted. 8/10?

Thomas' Pumpkin Spice English Muffins are the best (pumpkin) English muffins there are. They're soft, with little pockets of pumpkin spice. But I'm usually so tired of sweet things that I pair them with savory things. This time, I had a veggie burger (my favorite food!), which kind of overpowered the muffin's flavor. But I know what they're supposed to be like. 8/10.

I had this RubySnap Autumn, which is a butternut squash cookie. (Who says it always has to be pumpkin?) There were actually squash chunks in it. The cookie part was great, but it was the frosting that stole the show. 9/10.

Pizza Pie Cafe's Candy Corn Dessert Pizza is a little lazy, because they just took their sugar cookie pizza (which they cover in Valentine sprinkles for February and berries for July) and put candy corn on it. It's lazy, but it's winning. 8/10.

I don't go to Maverik that much, so I don't know whether the Maverik Candy Corn Chiller is new or not. If it is, I'm glad to see candy corn get renewed interest after peaking around 2012. I still can't tell you what candy corn is supposed to taste like, but I did like this drink. 8/10.

I had this Project 7 Pumpkin Spice Delight Gourmet Gum last year. After Thanksgiving, I put all my leftover pumpkin stuff on a table to share with my family. Last week, this gum showed up out of nowhere, and I think it somehow survived through the year since Thanksgiving. It loses its flavor fast, but it does actually taste like a pumpkin shake. 8/10.