I was listening to these Halloween songs when suddenly I was arrested by this song: "It's Halloween" by the Shaggs.
😂😂🤣🤣
Long-time readers of this blog might remember that back in 2012, I was obsessed with Jan Terri, a YouTube singer whose videos and songs were notoriously bad. I was surprised with how similar the Shaggs sounded to Jan Terri! Truth be told, I think they're worse than her—but then again, Jan doesn't play her own instruments.
It turns out that the backstory of this band is both bizarre and tragic. The father of the girls once had his mother read his palm, and she told him his daughters would be in a popular band, so he took them out of school and forced them to play music. They even recorded their album, and the producer vanished with most of the copies. But some of them survived, and years later they gained a cult following.
I somehow have a high tolerance for low-quality things, and I have already listened to their album, Philosophy of the World, more than twice. This love of camp goes back at least to fourth grade, when I would watch Teletubbies, even though I was way older than the show's intended demographic. (I remember the first time my cousins and I saw Teletubbies; we laughed at the sun baby and all the other whimsical things that probably weren't meant to be funny.)
In other news, I'm gaining an appreciation of Park City. It helps that we are in the heart of the city now. I've found some delightful paved trails going through the city; they seem somewhat like nature even though they're in the city. One of them goes from the area of my office up to Main Street. On the vanpool, I've heard out-of-staters say they feel like they're working at a mountain resort. On Thursday, I ran along an old rail trail that was next to some ponds and wetlands. It was enjoyable. Not as enjoyable as a real trail, but at least it's not muddy, and it's better than running through neighborhoods. But there were some icy patches, which I didn't like. First of all, that indicates that it's probably not plowed or shoveled during the winter. Second, it's been well over two weeks since it last snowed, and we've had nothing but warm, sunny days since then. Why is it taking so long to melt? True, the icy snow patches were in the shade of trees and bushes—but it's November, so they have lost their leaves and aren't extremely shady. What gives?
Yesterday, I returned to Wild Rose Trail after a hiatus of a few weeks, and I was surprised to see some changes, including a barricade for bicycles at the park.
I adore November. It's so stark, yet joyous because of Thanksgiving. But I can't believe there was still snow on the the ground. It was surprisingly busy on the trail.
 |
| During the fall and early spring months, there are random deer bones and parts scattered all over. |
I love living in the moment, which is why I will gladly stick to Thanksgiving for now. You have probably seen the memes about "Christmas November 1–27, Thanksgiving November 28, Christmas November 29–December 31." But I find those tragic and condescending. I love Thanksgiving! I enjoyed watching Ultimate Thanksgiving Challenge on Thursday night, delighted that a TV series devoted to my favorite holiday exists. I was making apple omelets while I watched, and it made me feel a sense of urgency while I was cooking. It also made me want to experiment with crazy cooking innovations. But now that I'm not watching it at the moment, I am once again scared of being too adventurous. Maybe someday.
One of my coworkers at Sundance just published a book and did a reading at King's English Bookstore in Salt Lake City. So I went. The last time I went there was February 15, 2003. I, too, am a published author, but my niche is one that isn't really appreciated (or wanted) at Sundance culture. Some of my coworkers and friends have been participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). But I only write nonfiction.
***
Pumpkinundation roundup has been going on for two months now, and it's still going strong! But some of the items on this week's list are a bit of a stretch.
I don't think I've seen Planters Pumpkin Spice Almonds since 2015. They use pumpkin powder, so it's not just spices. They're nice nuts, but they do get a bit boring. 7/10.
I had an Einstein Pumpkin Bagel with Einstein Pumpkin Shmear. Unremarkable on both counts. 7/10.
This My/Mo Pumpkin Spice Mochi Ice Cream is the first time I've had mochi. It's a rice flour dough surrounding ice cream. The pumpkin ice cream was fine, but it was overshadowed by the dough, which I didn't much care for. 4/10.
I always like to support local businesses, so I had a Blacksmith Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream in Bountiful. I've had many pumpkin ice creams, but this one didn't have much flavor. Also, there were these weird bits in the ice cream that made me wonder if it had been properly mixed. 6/10.
Continuing the theme of local ice cream, I had a Normal Ice Cream Sweet Po Casserole Composed Cone. Normal Ice Cream makes these composed cones by taking a flavor and putting random toppings on. This is a sweet potato ice cream with marshmallow topping, pieces of sweet potato cake, and little meringue things. The sweet potato ice cream was more flavorful than some of their others, and I really liked the cake pieces. At first it was overly sweet with the marshmallow topping, but once I finished that, it was better. This is my favorite composed cone I've had since carrot cake in the spring. 8/10.
I made a Trader Joe's run (which is harder now that it's not on my commute) and got a few Thanksgiving-adjacent items. Trader Joe's Cornbread Crisps remind of pita chips, except they're cornbread. They're creative yet a little boring. 7/10.
Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Chips are less salty than I expected. They're a little bland. 6/10.
This Trader Joe's Salad Palette Turkey Harvest reminds me why I don't like salad. It had Thanksgiving things like turkey, sweet potatoes, and cranberries. Those things were OK, but it had greens like kale and brussels sprouts that were not so good. I firmly believe that most veggies are better cooked, including brussels sprouts. And the apple cider vinaigrette was too bitter to use very much of it. 4/10.
I've been eating the See's Pumpkin Spice Lollypops samples I got for free last year, forgetting that I had a whole sucker in my drawer leftover from last year. This is one of the worst See's Lollypops; it has little flavor. 5/10.
The Brownies! Brownies! Brownies! Pumpkin Pie Blondie was less pumpkiny than I expected; it had whipped cream on top instead of more pumpkin, while the pumpkin was confined to the filling. Still good though. 7/10.
I got these Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips last month, but I can't remember if I included them on here. They are better than both the pumpkin tortilla chips and the sweet potato chips. 8/10.
Trader Joe's Turkey Pot Pie has stuffing and dried cranberries in it, making it a definite Thanksgiving meal. I didn't find it especially flavorful, but it still has a comfort food vibe. 7/10.
I had this RubySnap Isabella, which is a pumpkin mascarpone cookie. It's delightful, though it has a tang that is typical of RubySnap. 8/10. I also sampled a Peggy, which is a pecan praline cookie, and I liked it even better, but I couldn't justify buying it because I wasn't sure it was actually a Thanksgiving cookie.
I had a Crumbl Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie because Crumbl does an abysmal job of scheduling seasonal cookies, so I have to support them when they have them. But it's just a typical pumpkin chocolate chip cookie. 7/10.
And finally, we have Trader Joe's Turkey & Stuffing en Croute, which has turkey meat and stuffing in a crust, served with gravy and cranberry sauce. It won't replace the real thing, and it was hard to keep it together, but I found it enjoyable. 8/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment