Leaving

This week wasn't that eventful.

The most significant thing was that Friday was my last day working at This Is the Place Heritage Park, at least for now. My boss got teary when I turned in my name tag. The "heritage season" has ended, so the seasonal employees are done. There are positions open for Christmas, but this week I start my new (also seasonal) job at Sundance, and I don't want to spend the holiday season working two jobs when one of them is in Park City. If I don't have a job in the spring, I could return to This Is the Place. You'd think I'd have my life all figured out by the time I reached my 30s, but nope.

I used to stay in my church clothes all day on Sunday, but I decided it's not worth the dry cleaning costs to do that. I will often take Sunday walks, and last week I decided to explore in the gully behind the old ward building. It was lovely and fun, but I was annoyed by all the litter.

I got some good runs in this week. One was on a new trail by work. It was lovely but steep. A man with a dog said to me, "Congratulations! It's no minor task to run this up!" I'm not sure he was a native English speaker, and I was a little amused he got the sophisticated phrase "no minor task" but said "run this up" instead of "run up this."

Yesterday, I did my typical North Canyon run, and it was perfect weather. As the aspen leaves were falling all around me and even hitting me, it was just the best feeling. Though many of the leaves this year have been inferior, it was the best I had ever seen the aspens in North Canyon. I cannot think of a better hobby to have. I ran ten miles total. Ten years ago, I couldn't even imagine running ten miles, much less when half of it is uphill.

I've enjoyed getting ready for Halloween, though I don't have any must-do items like I did last year. I have met people who say they don't like Halloween. But I think they actually mean they don't like certain parts of Halloween. There's a difference! Nobody likes holidays more than I do, but that doesn't mean I like everything about them. I don't like the excesses of Christmas, the drunkenness of St. Patrick's Day, or the polarization of Pioneer Day. You can still like Halloween even if you don't like everything. Halloween is my third-favorite holiday, yet I think it is distasteful to decorate your yard with realistically violent and gruesome scenes.

My parents often have the Hallmark Channel on, and they have already started showing Christmas movies. Ridiculous! Why don't they just make Halloween or Thanksgiving movies? Their formulaic, predictable romances don't have to take place at Christmas!

My Halloween playlist is currently up to 173 songs. 

***

Some of my most noteworthy Halloween happenings this week were related to food, so it's time to move on to pumpkinundation roundup.

Sometimes people ask me what my favorite Halloween candy is. I tell them Caramel Apple Sugar Babies. I don't really like regular Sugar Babies, but the apple version is amazing. Not all the stores sell them, so I'm always afraid that they will stop making them. That would be a tragedy! Go buy some so they don't disappear. You won't regret it! 10/10.

This Jamba Juice Pumpkin Harvest Protein Smoothie does have that typical protein taste to it, and the pumpkin isn't too strong, but it wasn't gross. 7/10.

Fat Boy Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream Sandwiches aren't as strongly flavored as other pumpkin products, but they're still tasty. I generally prefer chocolate "bread," but the graham does work better with pumpkin. 8/10.

I first had Caramel Apple Milky Way Bars in 2012, and they remain a classic variation of a classic candy. 8/10.

Arctic Circle Pumpkin Shakes have been around since before pumpkin was cool. Sometimes the spice is a little strong, and indeed I found myself coughing on a particularly large spice that caught in my throat. (Maybe that was from my sandwich.) It's still great, though. 8/10.

Various smoothie joints do their own version of a pumpkin smoothie, such as this Keva Juice Smashing Pumpkin. It mostly tastes like the others, with a distinguishable pumpkin flavor mixed with frozen yogurt. 9/10. (Years ago, I heard someone complaining about girls liking pumpkin stuff too much, and he cited this very Keva Juice smoothie as an example of excess. Um, if you don't like pumpkin, I have good news for you: You don't have to buy it!)

So, for a few more items, I have to do some explaining. I have different categories of seasonal foods. Category 1 refers to things that are iconic to the holiday. Pumpkin pie, caramel apples, and candy corn are all category 1 for Halloween. Category 2a refers to things that are flavored like category 1. Most of pumpkinundation roundup is category 2a. Category 2b refers to things where the flavor is made uniquely for the holiday, even though the flavor itself doesn't have to do with it. I don't usually do category 2b here, but I had some interesting ones this week.

My Burger King Scary Black Cherry Fanta Frozen Drink looked more brown than the other pictures I have seen. It was good, but nothing groundbreaking. 7/10.

The Burger King Nightmare Burger is an interesting item. It has a chicken filet, a beef patty, and green buns. Supposedly, they deliberately developed it to try to make you have nightmares. But that was actually the best night's sleep I got this week. It's a good, but salty, sandwich. 8/10.

Probably tomorrow, my formal review for Starbucks Witch's Brew Creme Frappuccino will go up. It has a purple-colored, orange-flavored base with green-colored chia seeds in it. It looks great, but the flavor is a little bland, and the chia seeds are just weird. (There's no coffee, don't worry.) 6/10.

Cat and mouse chase

It was kind of a weird, yet fun, week.

One year ago today (October 21), I adopted my cat, Jimmy.

If you've been following this blog, you know that I love my cat. I got an email that he was due for an update on his rabies vaccine, as well as an annual checkup. So as a responsible cat owner, I scheduled a vet appointment for him on Tuesday, which was my day off this week.

As the time of his appointment got close, I had to find him. He wasn't in his usual spots, and instead he was under my niece's bed. I coaxed him out into the living room, where I had his kennel. I picked him up to put him in it. In the past year, that is the first (and only) time I have picked him up, because he doesn't like it at all. He hissed and meowed at me. I tried to put him in, but he simply would not cooperate. I figured I'd have to try something else. (Later I realized I should have put the door facing up instead of on the ground, but it was too late.) So he ran to hide under my bed. I tried to get him out of there, but he escaped before I could get him and ran downstairs. So then I tried to get him downstairs and he ran upstairs. We played this game of cat and mouse, except that the cat was the mouse. He was really afraid to see me, and he got very good at hiding from me. Shortly before the appointment, I called the vet to say that I would be late. An hour later, I had to call them to say I wouldn't be coming because I couldn't get him. He won.

I don't necessarily think he needs to go to the vet, though. He doesn't go outside, so I don't think he needs rabies vaccines. And since he refuses to be held or picked up, I think just getting a checkup is worse for him than just staying home. Our last cat, Jenny, went thirteen years without going to the vet, and she lived a long life of fifteen years, and she even went outside. Jimmy is about nine years old now. I did take him to the vet in June because he lost a tooth. (On that occasion, he chased a laser into the kennel, and I closed the door behind him. That didn't work this time around.)

It was traumatizing to me to have my cat afraid of me. But he's forgiven me, and he's been interrupting me as I write this so he can be petted. He's sitting placidly next to me at the moment.

After that wasted afternoon, I went running up Mueller Park Canyon, and this time it was my turn to be chased. I hadn't gone very far when I noticed a man running behind me. I tend to be a slow runner, so I always feel a little awkward when that happens. At one point, I had stopped for some cyclists, and he caught up to me. I told him he could pass, but he told me I was "an animal" and was setting an incredible pace, so he liked following me. He was from Oklahoma and didn't usually do hills, but I was still impressed by him, especially since he looked twenty years older than I am. Indeed, having someone following me motivated me to go faster, and I made it to Elephant Rock in 38 minutes, which I think was the fastest I'd ever done it. So if anyone wants to run up one of those canyons with someone else as motivation, let me know. (I've decided not to extend invitations, for my own mental health.)

I got a new Fitbit this week. I switched from the Surge to the Ionic. I upgraded mostly because (1) my Surge band was in bad shape, and the band for that model cannot be replaced, and (2) I wanted one that I could wear swimming. Well, I debated between that and the Garmin Vivoactive 3, but I opted to stick with Fitbit because (1) Kohl's had a sale on it, (2) I didn't want to get used to a new setup, especially since Fitbit's app seems to be more user friendly (especially for counting calories, which I'm doing right now), and (3) I'm Fitbit friends with two of my cousins. But I instantly had buyer's remorse once I set it up, because it only shows the time when you press a button or hold your wrist in a certain way. The Fitbit Surge and the Garmin I was considering always have the display on. I have worn a watch continually since I was in second grade, so it drives me nuts not to be able to see the time. I'm getting used to it, but I still don't like that aspect. Hopefully I'll come to love the watch.

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week, This Is the Place did Little Haunts, which featured trick-or-treating for kids. It was very busy, and I had a hard time juggling history and trick-or-treating, since so many people were just there for the candy. Thursday and Friday, I was in the bank, where we gave out colored pencils. Many of the kids were disappointed they didn't get candy. Saturday I was in the print shop, where we had candy, and I was annoyed with how many kids were picky about what they got. If you have a peanut allergy, that's fine, but otherwise it bugged me. Just take the candy! It's free!

On Friday and Saturday, I dressed in my vampire costume, which I have worn many times since I got the cape in 2006 and the teeth in 2010. It really is a great costume. Several small kids wouldn't come in to get candy because they were afraid of me. One toddler said to her parents, "He's a vam-pirate!"

One interesting part of the Halloween festivities is Alice the dragon. My coworker Chris is usually Alice, and in this video, you can see me walking alongside him when he was Alice. But a couple of times, I had/got to play Alice. It is very heavy and difficult to see out of. I also am not very expressive, so I didn't do a great job. But it was kind of fun to get in bright orange tights and control the dragon. It did kind of weird me out to have some curious kids come up and rub my legs. When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants to be a dragon. It's for fun.

***
Pumpkinundation roundup is still going strong.

This Trader Joe's Organic Pumpkin went into a pumpkin dessert my mom made.

 It was like pumpkin pie with oats thrown in. It was good but a little weird. It had a bit of a tangy taste to it. 7/10.

If you had not told me that this Baker Josef's (Trader Joe's) Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread was gluten free, I wouldn't have guessed it. It was good, but something was a little off about it; it's not as good as bread with gluten flour. 7/10.

Tootsie Caramel Apple Pops are just green apple candy with caramel on top. Always a classic. 8/10.

Taco Time Pumpkin Empanadas are basically pumpkin pie filling inside a cinnamon-coated tortilla. They've been making these for like a decade, with good reason. 9/10.

barkThins Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Snacking Chocolate aren't pumpkin spice, but they are pumpkin inspired. I do enjoy the texture of pumpkin seeds. 8/10.

Special K Pumpkin Spice Pastry Crisps are really weird. They're like crackers with a sticky filling. Pumpkin is nowhere on the ingredient list. 5/10.

Someone asked me recently what the best pumpkin ice cream is, and I said Dairy Queen Pumpkin Pie Blizzards. They're just spicy enough without being overbearing, and the graham cracker bits make for a wonderful treat. 10/10.

I was nervous about this Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese, because I'm picky about cheese. I like cheddar, but I don't like parmesan, and I don't know about gouda. This isn't a pumpkin spice product, but it does have nutmeg. It was better than I expected. I was able to eat three quarters of the package. But then it had cooled so much that I didn't like it anymore. My mom liked it. 6/10.

Thomas' Pumpkin Spice Bagels are the best pumpkin bagels there are. They're soft, and they have little pockets of what seems to be pie filling. 8/10.

I had these Kellogg's Pumpkin Spice Nutrigrain Bars in 2016, and I was sad when I didn't see them last year. These are way better than the Trader Joe's "This Pumpkin Walks into a Bar" bars. 8/10.

Normal Ice Cream is an ice cream truck in Trolley Square (aka Hipster Square) with unique flavors. This Normal Ice Cream Corny Apple is a blend of cream cheese ice cream and apple cider sorbet, with green apple jam and caramel corn. It combines the less common Halloween flavors of apple cider and popcorn ball. I really loved the apple sorbet mixed with the ice cream. 8/10.

This Cafe Zupas Autumn Harvest Protein Bowl only counts as a pumpkin item because it has some pumpkin seeds. I didn't love it. I didn't love the goat cheese or the maple vinaigrette, and it was weird to eat cold sweet potatoes. 6/10.

I had a sip or two of the Cafe Zupas Pumpkin Chorizo Soup while it was warm, and I found it surprisingly spicy. Then I let it cool a bit, and it wasn't as spicy, but it didn't taste as good. I didn't like this creamy soup that much. 6/10.

What are you supposed to do with granola? Eat it out of hand (messy), or eat it with milk like cereal? I did both with this Bear Naked Pumpkin Spice Granola. There was nothing wrong with it, but there was nothing noteworthy about it. 7/10.

This Russell Stover Caramel Apple Pumpkin was apple flavored caramel in chocolate. I really liked it. 8/10. (As a side note, when I was at Walgreens looking at the candy, a shabbily dressed woman came up and butted in front of me, mumbling in a raspy smoker voice, and after she walked away, her repulsive smell lingered in the air. I felt sad when I realized her life has probably been destroyed from drugs. I don't have any sympathy at all for people who make money off of making or selling drugs, because they're using their skill sets to make money from killing people and ruining society. If you do that, you should stop. And if you won't stop, you should go die, because the world would be better off without you.)

I went to a church linger longer, where they had pumpkin bread (7/10) and a pumpkin roll with chocolate chips (8/10).

They also had Dick's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (8/10) and weird, tiny pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (5/10). Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies have been around longer than the pumpkin spice craze.

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.