You never have complete information

This week, I met with my supervisory committee for grad school to go over the expectations for my graduate portfolio before I graduate next spring. I'm feeling kind of optimistic after that meeting, especially because I will only have to take one class in the spring, and then I can devote more time to my portfolio.

But I was especially comforted by some of the professors' banter. You may recall that my Pioneer Day article was rejected by the first journal I submitted it to. (The second journal has sent it to reviewers.) After I was rejected, I couldn't help but think, "Who am I, a lowly editor who hasn't even finished his master's degree, to submit my pet project to this academic journal?" Well, the professors were saying they had articles rejected from this same journal, and it sounded like it's an ongoing problem with this particular editor. (I hadn't even mentioned that I had been rejected from the same journal; they were just talking about it!) So if these professional historians are having problems, it makes me feel better about my own rejection. My article was rejected because, so the editor said, I didn't have enough primary sources. But I mostly used primary sources, so I doubt that's the real reason. And the real reason might just be the editor!

On Tuesday night, I went on a run on the Wild Rose Trail. I think there was some kind of mountain biking club there, and there were a lot of teenagers who weren't very good at biking, so it was very annoying. I would step off the trail to let them pass, but then they would be stopped and I would pass them, and then it would happen all over again. But at one point, I had stepped off the trail, and this man, who I think was not part of the group, biked up and said, "How are you?" I said, "Good, thanks," and then he said, "How are YOU?" Then he swore and flipped me off.

What the heck!?

I figure he must have been mentally unstable, on drugs, or hard of hearing. But if he was mentally unstable, why would he be mountain biking? I feel like that activity requires a certain level of intelligence and wits. If he was on drugs, why would you take drugs that just make you angry? And if he misheard me, I can't figure out what he thought I said, and why would it make him so instantly turn into Mr. Hyde? If none of these things are true, I can only think of him as purely evil. His response was unreasonable, but I have to tell myself that it is also unreasonable for me to hope he crashes.

***

Second week of pumpkinundation roundup!

I went to an early birthday lunch at Chuck-A-Rama, and I went because I expected some seasonal dessert. But all they had was Chuck-A-Rama Apple Crisp, which I think they offer year round. In fact, I haven't traditionally considered apple crisp a seasonal thing, but it's a popular flavor this year. This is what you would expect from something mass produced. 6/10.

Favorite Day Candy Apple Pretzels have a fake apple flavor, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. These are as good as any candy-coated pretzel, with enough saltiness to balance the sweet. 7/10.

Pumpkinundation roundup mostly features foods from my category 1 (iconic foods) or category 2a (foods flavored like category 1), but sometimes I have to include category 2b (seasonal flavors that have nothing to do with the season) because I am excited about them. Hence why I'm including Tootsie Ghost Dots. These debuted back in 2009, and I had them in 2011, but I don't think I've seen them since 2012. They are ordinary Dot flavors, but they are all the same ghostly color, so you don't know what you're getting. It's a fun concept in theory at least, but the flavors aren't very strong. They're just generically sweet, so I really don't know what flavor it is most of the time. I know Dots aren't a quality candy, but I still love them. I'm happy to see these Halloween ones return from their hiatus. 7/10.

Good & Gather Pumpkin Pie Date & Nut Bars are like Larabars but drier. I don't remember much about my experience eating this, which means it wasn't great or terrible. So let's go with 6/10.

I've seen Brach's Mellowcreme Caramel Apple before, but this is my first time trying them. Mellowcreme is basically the same as candy corn or candy pumpkins. There are both green and red apples, but they taste the same. There used to be caramel apple candy corn, but these have a better ratio of caramel to apple. 7/10.

Favorite Day Bakery Pumpkin Streusel Breakfast Bread didn't make a strong impression on me, either when I first ate it or when I made a cheese sandwich from it. 7/10?

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Brioche has a nice, soft brioche texture with some comforting flavor, but it's more brioche than pumpkin. 7/10.

I rarely cook with meat (I think the last time was St. Patrick's Day), but I really wanted to try Trader Joe's Apple Cider Marinated Pork Loin Roast. So I put it in a slow cooker along with carrots, onions, and a fresh pie pumpkin.

It did not disappoint! In fact, it exceeded my expectations. The scent of cinnamon and cloves filled the house, and those flavors filled the meat as well, though it was more spice than apple. Pork has never been my favorite meat, but I've never had it like this. (And this cost twenty dollars, so it had better be good!) 9/10.

I put Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spread on some of my meat. It's meant for savory things, not really to be eaten on its own, kind of like cranberry sauce. There's a strong pumpkin flavor. Not pumpkin spice, but just pumpkin. I did enjoy it on the meat, but it would be better/more important on less flavorful or drier meat. 7/10.

You can see a little dab on the meat, but most of the yellow stuff is actual pumpkin.

I have wanted to try Trader Joe's Pumpkin Danish Kringle since 2017, but this is the first time I went ahead and got it. It's a sweet Danish pastry with a layer of thick pumpkin filling. At first, I didn't like the pumpkin filling: it was dense and less sweet than the pastry. But after eating more, I really enjoy the contrast. 8/10.

I got several Kodiak Cakes Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Muffin Power Cups on clearance a month or two ago. I was glad to get them but also sad that more people don't know how great they are. You just put in water or milk, stir it, microwave it, and then you have a "muffin." For convenience and protein content, it's a great option. 7/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds are sweet and crunchy. 7/10.

I look forward to Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter every year. It's like jam but with a pumpkin and spice flavor. It's great on its own or with peanut butter. 8/10.

The first bite of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Hummus had that distinctive chickpea flavor, but soon it dissolves into the overall pumpkin sweetness. It tastes like pumpkin pie! It's surely less healthy than regular hummus (lots of sugar), but probably healthier than actual pumpkin pie. I had no problem finishing off this tub in just a couple of days. (I had another pumpkin hummus two years ago that was also really good, but I let it go bad, and I didn't want to waste this one.) 9/10.

I think I am used to the notion that Kellogg's Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini Wheats are disappointing and taste artificial, so I am no longer disappointed. I like it as a cereal more than as a pumpkin product. 7/10.

Pumpkinundation returns

 Meteorological fall begins on September 1, and this week it finally really began to feel like fall.

My parents took their trailer up to Wasatch Mountain State Park, and I joined them Tuesday and Wednesday nights, since I had to attend classes. I went running on the campsite's trails both nights. Wednesday wasn't that different from Tuesday, and yet it felt much more like fall that second night. 

Tuesday night

Wednesday night. This tree looked better in person. I like to call it a Christmas tree because it's red and green.

This campsite has electric and water hookups, with nice bathrooms and even showers, so I really enjoy it. I don't know what else to say about it though.

I still buy music, and recently I have bought a lot of Halloween albums, including a children's album, Songs for Halloween by the Strawberry Traffic Jam. Most children's albums are terrible, with annoying instruments and/or voices. This one is far less annoying than most, and all the songs are original. I don't get why it's so obscure, because it's better than so many popular ones, including Andrew Gold's Halloween Howls.

Anyway, I bought this album directly from the artist's website (more money for them that way), but I realized that two of the songs were incomplete. They just stopped after twenty-something seconds. So I emailed the artist to ask for complete tracks. He sent them to me, but he kept sending me incompatible files for one of them, so I had to keep asking. I kind of felt bad to pester him like that, but if I paid for it, I should have a full version. And I think he should know/would like to know if his own website is giving incomplete tracks. And I made sure to compliment him for his work.

I enjoyed some fall evening runs in the neighborhood, as well as a morning North Canyon run on Monday before my evening class. Last night I ran on Springhill Geologic Park, and I'm happy to see that my efforts at blocking unofficial trails are mostly working. But I was most excited to see an owl! 

This beautiful leaf is from the Woodbriar Trail.

The rest of the week was fairly ordinary, doing schoolwork and working on Friday. I think this semester is easier than the last two, but I will have more projects coming up in October, so we'll see if I still feel that way.

***

But now that it's mid-September, my annual pumpkinundation roundup has returned again! This feature has proven more popular than I expected it would be. I officially began it on September 15, but I had a soft beginning starting September 1. I love all the pumpkin and other fall foods, but mostly I think it's funny. These will not be in any specific order, since Blogger still hasn't gotten their act together to make it easy to put pictures in order (after a year!).

This is what seventy dollars of pumpkin-adjacent products from Trader Joe's looks like. And I told myself no to a fair amount.

I knew before I tried it that I wouldn't like Trader Joe's Pumpkin 4 Cheese Greek Style Yogurt Dip, since I don't like Greek yogurt and I don't like many cheeses. It was less gross than I expected, which isn't saying much. You could taste the pumpkin, but it had a dairy tang that I didn't care for. But my aunt liked it, so I was happy to give it to someone who would enjoy it. 5/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Biscotti has a nice pumpkin flavor, but it's hard and dry, which I think is how biscotti is supposed to be. I will have to dip it in a drink sometime. 6/10. 

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spiced Teeny Tiny Pretzels are cute. But the yogurt coating tastes more fake than a lot of coated pretzels. I haven't noticed the pumpkin seeds on the few that I have had. 6/10.

Trader Joe's Non-Dairy Pumpkin Oat Beverage is new this year, though they previously had an almond pumpkin drink that was awful. This one, though, is not awful! It takes some getting used to with oat milk, but it has a sweet, comforting flavor. 7/10.

Trader Joe's Spicy Pumpkin Somosas were my Friday night dinner. I could only eat eight, but that's because they were satisfying. They're just a little spicy. It's comparatively rare to find savory pumpkin stuff, so I really appreciated these. 8/10.

Trader Joe's Petite Pumpkin Spice Cookies are like an upgraded version of those circus animal cookies. Not gourmet, but enjoyable. 7/10. 

Trader Joe's "This Pumpkin Walks into a Bar" Cereal Bars are not great, but they're decent enough that I bought them even though I have had them before. 6/10.

I could justify this Goodly Cookies Apple of My Pie Cookie because it has an apple cider drizzle. There's apple pie filling on the inside. Goodly is the best of all the local cookie shops, and this one does not disappoint, though they have better cookies. 8/10.

My mom gets this Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Seed + Flax Granola. I loved it back in 2010, but I got sick of it. 6/10.

There are some candies that work for more than one holiday, like raspberry lemonade candy corn. (I'm not including a brand because it's distributed by many companies; I don't know who makes it.) This is suitable for the patriotic holidays for obvious reasons, and lemonade is a traditional Fourth of July/Pioneer Day treat. And it's suitable for Halloween because it's candy corn. It should tell you something that I still had it leftover from the summer. I'm happy it exists, but the flavor is mediocre. (Brach's probably could have executed it better.) 6/10.

I did a formal review of these Candy Corn Red Vines. They literally taste like nothing. At least they're not gross. 5/10.

I had this pumpkin streusel muffin from the gas station. It's enjoyable but a little boring. 7/10.

Lovely Pumpkin Spice Caramels are good, if a little artificial. 7/10.

Lovely Apple Caramels are OK. I've had better caramel, and the apple is artificial. 6/10.

Pumpkin Spice Pizzelle da Nonna are weird. They're plain, dry cookies. They mostly taste like butter and flour, with a tiny hint of pumpkin spice. 4/10.

Have I had a Moon Pie before? I'm not sure. If all of them are like Pumpkin Spice Moon Pie Minis, I don't know how they stay in business. They just taste like nothing, with a hint of artificiality. The texture is dry, soft, and chewy. 5/10.

Dunford Bakers Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are sold at convenience stores and vending machines throughout Utah. I like them, but they're ordinary pumpkin cookies. 7/10.

I have seen Smashmallows before, with lots of limited edition flavors and fancy packaging, so I expected more from Pumpkin Pie Smashmallow. But they're just like regular marshmallows, with a hint of a warm flavor. But I put them in hot chocolate, and they are not a good consistency for that, so I don't see the point. 6/10.

Süss Cookie Co. is located in Midway, near our camping this week, so I grabbed a Süss Cookie Co. Apple Crisp Cookie. I really enjoyed it, but it tasted more like gingersnap and butterscotch than apple crisp. 8/10.

I was craving a Maverik Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin because they are so satisfying. 8/10.

These Spiced Pumpkin Pie Clif Bars are leftover from last year, but they are one of my favorite seasonal energy bars. 7/10.

I used Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice on a baked sweet apple omelet. I usually add cinnamon to these sweet omelets. This spice mix was less potent and flavorful. I also added some to a Mexican chocolate cake I made for my grandma's birthday, but you couldn't taste it. The spice smells nice, but it's less interesting than you would think. 6/10.

Brach's makes the best candy corn, so Brach's Autumn Mix is a winner! I love the mix of regular candy corn, harvest corn, and pumpkins, though I do get tired of them by the end of the season. 8/10.

At the state fair, I had a Snickers Caramel Apple. I love these fancy caramel apples, but they can get a little hard to chew. 8/10.

I made a special trip to Layton because Krispy Kreme had special pumpkin doughnuts for one week only. But when I got there, they only had two of the three flavors, and I had already had those two before. And I also remembered that these doughnuts don't actually have pumpkin. They're just spices, which seems incredibly lazy and misleading. So the Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnut gets 6/10.

Same goes for the Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice Glazed Doughnut, 6/10.

We had zucchini from our garden, so I added it to this Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Quick Bread. I liked it but thought it was a little boring; my parents loved it. 8/10.

I had a Corner Bakery Pumpkin Muffin, which is a typical pumpkin muffin. 7/10.

The Crumbl Pumpkin Caramel Cookie was delightful—a nice pumpkin cookie with a delectable frosting. 8/10.

I did a formal review of Apple Cider Donut Oreos, which actually taste like donuts and apple—just not cinnamon. 8/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Tortilla Chips are a little bland; they're less snackable than regular tortilla chips. But maybe that's because they're corn chips and I prefer flour ones. I appreciate that they have spices and actual pumpkin without being a sweet food. As a vehicle for dip or whatever, they're fine. 6/10.

Candy Corn Pez is adequate. They have a kind of buttery flavor with a hint of fruitiness. 6/10.