It fills me with joy to use fruit from our own yard. Now we have a drawer full of apples from our own tree that we have to use.
This Halloween season, I wanted to go to a pumpkin patch. I was happy when my ward went to Cross E Ranch on Monday, because they have a pumpkin patch. I didn't get any pumpkins or wander in the patch, but I did walk through it, thereby fulfilling my goal. I also held a cat, went through a corn maze, saw kittens, and played in corn. I don't care about solving problems in a corn maze. It's all about the atmosphere.
On a whim that evening, I decided to go see the new Addams Family movie. I didn't like it at first, but it got better. I'm a fan of the original 1960s series, and I appreciated the tributes the movie made to it, such as the growling polar bear rug. (I think they should have had the pet lion running backwards, since that gag was repeated ad nauseam on the show.) There were some great gags and lines. I also like that the characters look like the original Charles Addams drawings. But I was hoping it would actually be a Halloween movie instead of just a spooky movie. 7/10.
On Wednesday morning, I heard Jimmy meowing. He was looking out the window at another cat (evidently named Bruce) sitting on our patio. Our last cat, Jenny, would get all poofy and start making hostile noises whenever she saw another cat, so it's weird to me that Jimmy is so calm when he sees other cats. When we adopted him two years ago, he was living in a room full of cats, and I wonder if he misses cat companionship. I thought about opening the door to see what would happen, but I didn't want to scare Bruce away.
That evening I took another trail run on the Wild Rose Trail. There are few things in life more satisfying than autumn evening trail runs.
On Thursday, I got to portray Alice the Dragon at work. I put on a giant "dragon" costume, which has a head that moves and roars. It's really heavy and difficult. My watch thought I was biking because I was holding on to handles (to move the head) and my heart rate was up. It's kind of fun, but I don't think I'm very good at it. I'm just focused on not dying (it's heavy, awkward, and hard to see). I didn't expect to go to college just to wear a giant dragon costume, but here I am.
Last week I complained about the horrible "Halloween" music they play, and it only gets worse. They have these awful kids' songs that sound like they're from the eighties. One of them has annoying music and even more annoying high-pitched cackling. The lyrics go something like this:
Happy hour of six, there was a little witch.
Happy hour of seven, she goes into the kitchen.
Happy hour of eight, she puts out all the plates.
Happy hour of nine, she makes a batter fine.
Happy hour of ten, she puts some berries in.
Happy hour of eleven, she bakes it in the oven.
Cooks some carrots and some meat, twelve o'clock it's time to eat!
Those lyrics are asinine! "Happy hour of nine" is the only one that rhymes, and it's an awkward rhyme at that. And it's not even Halloweeny. Anyone can make a pot roast with a berry dessert. And combined with the annoying music and cackling, it's a horrendous song.
On Friday night, I was invited to go to Pumpkin Nights at the fairground. The website made it sound like you needed to prepurchase tickets online. But when we got there, the prepurchase line was long, while there was literally no wait to buy tickets on site. What's the point of that?
They had various (fake) jack-o-lanterns placed in elaborate themed scenes. There was a Hogwarts theme, a Dia de los Muertos theme, an underwater theme,
It was fun, but definitely not worth the $20 admission. It would be worth half that. It was like a county fair with some elaborate displays.
The people I went with were disparaging the pumpkin food trend. But, as you know, I love it. I hope this food fad lasts forever. If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it!
I was pleasantly surprised by the Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Spice Waffles. "Gluten Free" doesn't always bode well, but these were good enough for me to eat without any topping. I could see the bits of quinoa spread throughout. 7/10.
I had a Cross E Ranch Apple Cider Donut, which wasn't very appley, but it was still enjoyable. 8/10.
At the ranch, I also had a Millie's Sweets Shop Caramel Apple. I opted for the simplest, cheapest, and lowest-calorie option. Just what you'd expect. 8/10.
I can't remember whether this Parsons' Bakery Pumpkin Donut was a "pumpkin donut" or a "pumpkin spice donut"—but I have a suspicion that it was just the spices and no pumpkin. It wasn't orange, and I didn't taste any pumpkin. Boring! 6/10.
I used my Pumpkin Lovers' Cookbook to make Seared Pumpkin and Onion Grilled Cheese. It's easy. Just cut up pumpkin (that's the hardest part) and onion, cook them in a pan, then put them on a sandwich with cheese and grill it. Simple but tasty. 8/10.
I'm not a huge fan of most caramel corn; it's too crunchy. But I really appreciate Boom Chicka Pop, including Angie's Boom Chicka Pop Candy Corn Flavored Drizzled Kettle Corn. It's sweet but not excessively so, and it doesn't have that annoying crunch of caramel corn. The candy corn version is pretty sweet but not excessively so. (I really appreciate Boom Chicka Pop for having one of the few Fourth of July products this past summer.) 8/10.
I didn't like the Angie's Boom Chicka Pop Pumpkin Spice Drizzled Kettle Corn as much. Butter was the dominant flavor. I know it's weird to complain about butter-flavored popcorn, but I don't like that. It's still good though. (Neither fall flavor is as good as the patriotic one was.) 7/10.
Jimmy was also interested in Sunbelt Bakery Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars. (Isn't he adorable?) These bars aren't terribly pumpkiny, but they're good enough that I look forward to buying them every year. 7/10.
I like to get the Thomas' Pumpkin Spice English Muffins and put savory foods on them (this time more pumpkin grilled cheese), because I obviously get enough sugar. I first had them in 2013. I'm not big on English muffins, but these are my favorite. 8/10.
On one of the last warm days, I had a Bahama Buck's Caramel Apple Sno. It's just apple shaved ice with caramel on it. Simple, but it works. 8/10.
Franz Pumpkin Spice Bagels aren't as good as their Thomas' cousins (they taste overly floury), but they're fine. 6/10.
My lips have been dry this week, so I've been using this Pumpkin Pie ChapStick I got two years ago. I don't like using ChapStick; I don't like the way it feels. The flavor is a typical fake pumpkin spice flavor. (I can't believe that's a thing.) 6/10.
When I got this Normal Ice Cream Count Chocula Ah Ah! Composed Cone, the chocolate ice cream machine wasn't working, so I had to get it with Butterfinger ice cream. I didn't much care for the berry topping that was supposed to resemble blood (I assume). And trying to eat cereal and ice cream at the same time hurt my mouth. 6/10.
For years I have ranted about how good Caramel Apple Sugar Babies are. I still consider them the best Halloween candy. But I'm bumping them down a point because some of them are harder to chew than the others. 9/10.
This is the first time I've had Nature's Bakery Fig Bars. They have a surprising amount of added sugar in them. But I liked it. 7/10.
I've had Trader Joe's Pumpkin O's every year since 2016. They're a pleasant cereal, if not terribly pumpkiny. But I love the whimsy of Trader Joe's: "Round like pumpkins (rounder, actually) and fun like jack-o-lanterns (maybe more fun, since you can eat them), Trader Joe's Pumpkin O's are the cereal sibling to the original Joe's O's. The pumpkin wizards whipped these up with a stroke of their pumpkin-shaped wands, and because pumpkin-shaped wands are challenging and difficult to control, the wizards were only able to conjure up enough of these O's for pumpkin season. If pumpkin is your passion, and cereal is your cause for celebration, Pumpkin O's are for you. Hold on to this box, lest the pumpkin goblins grab them all." We need a Trader Joe's in Davis County! 7/10.
Last Course Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Ice Cream is better than cinnamon ants. The pumpkin is strong, as is the cinnamon. 9/10.
The Last Course Pumpkin Whoopie Pie has pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with frosting in the middle. It's hard to mess up pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, but the frosting wasn't great. 7/10.
The "pumpkin" in Bear Naked Pumpkin Spice Granola is pumpkin seeds. I'm fine with that, but the granola is just OK. 6/10.
This Sweet Tooth Fairy Pumpkin Cake Bite is the first item I have had from that bakery. They were sold out of the other products I might have bought. It was tasty, but it seemed steep to spend more than a dollar on a product I could eat in one bite. 8/10.
This Trader Joe's Autumnal Harvest Soup is a tomato-based soup with pumpkin and squash. It was better than I expected. 7/10.
It was overkill to get this Baskin-Robbins Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream in a waffle cone, but I'm worrying about it more than is rational. The ice cream is good but not exceptional. 7/10.
Trader Joe's Pumpkin Greek Nonfat Yogurt is fine as far as Greek yogurt goes. 6/10.
We have had apple cake from an old Melville recipe for years, but we lost the recipe. But my mom found a similar recipe online. My mom made this using the apples we picked. 9/10.
The cake was for a family gathering, but two of my cousins are celiacs, so I got Baker Josef's Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread and Muffin Baking Mix. The texture is definitely different from wheat bread, but it's still tasty and enjoyable. 8/10.
I haven't been overly impressed with Jet-Puffed Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows, so I thought I'd try Great Value Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows instead. They're not very flavorful, mostly just marshmallow. 5/10.
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