Octubre

This week I spent some time savoring the end of autumnal daylight. There is a steep hill off the side of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, and this year I have tried to go up it more often so I can improve my uphill stamina. I went there twice this week.

The view from the top

Lingering snow

Looking up, but I was already partway up the hill

I have been spending more time with the local mid-singles ward, and this week we went to the fall festivities at Cross E Ranch, which is conveniently located near us. I like corn mazes for the ambience, not for the maze itself.

Yesterday I ran to Ensign Peak, which I do a few times a year, usually in the spring and fall, since it thaws sooner than the other trails when it has snowed recently. 

This portion of the trail is new within the last five years, so I had to check it out

This interpretive sign featured a rainbow trout, even though that's a nonnative species😬

The fire in Sugar House was still smoldering, and I could see the smoke from far away

I was also invited to a Halloween party, so I was happy to wear my Gilligan costume. I was obsessed with Gilligan's Island when I was in high school (it's so unabashedly silly), but I've always had glasses, so I couldn't dress up as him before. So now that I no longer have glasses, it was my year! I was happy that several people recognized it.

Mirror selfies are trashy, but at least it wasn't in the bathroom

I thought if someone asked me who was my type, Ginger or Mary Ann, I would have to say the Professor. 😉

This week's Come, Follow Me was about Ezekiel. I don't know how I feel about the curriculum. They left out Ezekiel 18, which is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Old Testament. But I'm glad they seem to be moving away from the kind of proof-texting I learned in seminary in the mid-2000s (at least somewhat). There's also a lot of weird stuff in Ezekiel.

This scripture cracks me up. Every time.

***

It was a big week for pumpkinundation roundup!

This Sweet Chaos Candy Corn Drizzled Popcorn was just generically sweet. I like sweet popcorn, but it didn't really taste like candy corn. 6/10.

When a friend brought these Original Two-Bite Candy Corn Cupcakes, we debated whether they were candy corn–flavored or just candy corn–colored. But I'm pretty sure the frosting was flavored like candy corn, which was a relief. They're fine. 7/10.

This Julie Ann's Pumpkin Vanilla Caramel tasted like homemade, which is fine for homemade caramel, but not what I expect from a store. It does have a spice flavor and a vanilla flavor. 6/10.

And the Julie Ann's Caramel Apple Caramel has an apple flavor, but it wasn't reminiscent of a caramel apple. 6/10.

I made this pumpkin salsa with a recipe I found online, using the jack-o'-lantern pumpkin we've had in the freezer since last fall. I like how unique it is. It's fine, but I have the feeling it's one of those foods I will like less and less the more I eat it. 5/10.

I liked the Planters Pumpkin Spice Almonds better than I remembered. They have actual pumpkin powder in addition to the spices. 8/10.

When I went to get this Parsons' Bakery pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, they gave it to me for free! It has an orange glaze on top, which is unusual, but it's a fairly mediocre cookie. 6/10.

After my 9.8-mile run yesterday, I was craving pumpkin eggnog, so I bought Hood Pumpkin Eggnog. It's more eggnog than pumpkin, but there's nothing wrong with that! (I always dilute eggnog with milk.) I don't buy eggnog as much anymore—counting calories ruined it for me. 8/10.

I had to laugh that it was limited edition, since eggnog is always limited edition

I can only remember one other time I've had gnocchi, so maybe that's part of why I didn't love Trader Joe's Pumpkin Gnocchi. It has some pumpkin flavor, but it kind of has the texture of paste. Maybe my homemade tomato sauce just wasn't liquidy enough. 6/10.

Good & Gather Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal is one of the better brands of pumpkin oatmeal. 7/10.

I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon rolls, but I liked Pilsbury Grands Pumpkin Spice Rolls. 7/10.

I enjoy the sweetness and flavors of Trader Joe's Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli. 7/10.

Cross E Ranch had caramel apples with pseudo–Harry Potter themes, so I got a pomaceous pumpkiinous apple, which had pumpkin spice flavoring and a churro stem. The flavoring was mediocre, as was the mass-produced churro. 6/10.

Cross E Ranch apple cider donuts are good, but they didn't seem very appley to me. 7/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cheesecake Croissants have a croissant with a cheesecake topping. I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake, but I still enjoyed these. 7/10.

I had this Trader Joe's Harvest Blend Herbal Tea leftover from last year. It has a nice appley, autumnal flavor, even though there's no pumpkin. But it's still just pompous water. 6/10.

I had this Great Value Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa leftover from last year. I don't think it has any pumpkin, but the spices still make for tasty hot cocoa! 8/10.

I like to go get Nielsen's pumpkin frozen custard. It's sufficiently pumpkiny and refreshing. 8/10.

The Pumpkin Pie Larabar is better than I remembered. But maybe I just remember them after they've sat it my cupboard all winter and I'm eating them on springtime runs. 7/10.

You get blurry pictures when you're taking them in the twilight

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bagels are mediocre and kind of dry. 6/10.

Changing seasons

 It wasn't that exciting of a week. I have been getting back into spending time with other people, since COVID and grad school left me socially isolated. Otherwise, I have been enjoying the last bits of the season outside before it gets too dark, cold, and snowy. (Let's hope it gets too snowy!)

Yesterday (Saturday) morning, I took some time to bring all the produce in from the garden before it snowed. We had two watermelons, lots of green tomatoes, and some apples. I left the spaghetti squash out, because I think they last longer.

The watermelon is edible but not great.

I was also annoyed when the cable box in my room quit working. I went to the Comcast store to get a new one, which also gave me a good reason to go to Trader Joe's. But I was annoyed that they gave me a new box, because I thought the old box was easier to navigate channels with. Why does so much new technology just make things worse? And I'm especially annoyed because I can't get the new one to work, and it's going to be a hassle to figure that out. I really love watching Halloween Baking Championship on Monday nights before I go to sleep!

***

Time for pumpkinundation roundup!

Swiss Miss is a household name for hot cocoa, so I was disappointed the Swiss Miss Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa wasn't better. It's not bad, but I've had better pumpkin spice hot cocoa. The spices aren't very strong. Maybe I'm just spiced out? 6/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds taste more buttery than I remember, and they're not as good as I remember. But they're still good. 7/10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spiced Joe-Joe's Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies take their Pumpkin Joe-Joe's and put a yogurt coating on top. They're fine but taste a little artificial. 7/10.

Ben & Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream is one of those items that has been around for years, but I haven't tried it until now. And I'm glad I did! It has a nice but not overwhelming pumpkin flavor. I'm not a big fan of tangy cheesecake, but this one keeps the tanginess down. 8/10.

The Chip Naughty Pumpkin Cookie is a pumpkin cookie with whipped cream, caramel, and toffee bits. I just didn't think it was that great. The cakey cookie was kind of bland, and the toppings didn't make it much more interesting. 6/10.

Arctic Circle pumpkin shakes are one of the oldest pumpkin treats I remember, so I got a variation with the Arctic Circle Pumpkin Oreo Shake. The pumpkin base is very flavorful, and the Oreos made it even better. 8/10.

I got two treats in one with this Bahama Buck's Caramel Apple and Candy Corn Shaved Ice. They have had candy corn in the past, but it was just the syrup. But now, they have different colors and also add cream. If I had known, I would have just had candy corn! It really does taste like candy corn! 8/10. The caramel apple is just apple with caramel on it. 6/10.

I always felt guilty buying the Maverik Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin, because it came in a wasteful plastic container. So I'm so happy they don't come in plastic anymore! The chocolate chips on and in the muffin provide a great flavor counterpoint to the pumpkin muffin. 8/10.

Not pumpkin, but I went and got a Baskin-Robbins Spicy 'n' Spooky Ice Cream. It is described as "White Chocolate Ghost Pepper flavored Ice Cream & black Dark Chocolate Ice Cream speckled with spicy Blood Orange Flakes." It was amazing! It was spicy, but it worked well with the dark chocolate, and the blood orange flakes were a great flavor contrast. A home run! 9/10.

The rest of the week

First off, I want to thank all of you for your kind comments for my coming-out post this week. I feel nothing but love and support. (I have noticed that I have a lot more pageviews than I have reactions or comments. But I appreciate that if you didn't like what I wrote, you kept your thoughts to yourself.) I have also been sad this week as I ponder the reality that the life I envisioned, and the life that others envisioned for me, isn't going to happen. But I guess everyone deals with that in one way or another.

I attended a virtual support group for LGBTQ Latter-day Saints, and one of them told me, "Well, I hope you get lots of hugs this week." I said, "Well, I'm not a hugger, so I hope I don't!"

I have seen that when other people come out, suddenly their blog is all about being gay. I don't want that for mine. It will come up, because it's part of my life, but I'd rather talk about holidays, trails, and candy, just like I've always done.

Speaking of which...

Yesterday I decided to try out the new loop between North Canyon and Mueller Park. I had no idea how long it would be as a total loop, even though I have previously been on every portion of it. In total, it ended up being 14.3 miles, the second-longest I've ever done (after the fifteen-mile run three weeks ago). I'm really pleased that I'm in shape to do a run like that, and I hope to continue these longer runs in the future. But I do have to ask myself if I really want to spend more than three hours running every Saturday. Trail running really is such a wonderful hobby.

One week ago, all these aspens were yellow, but now a lot of them are bare!

Obligatory Elephant Rock picture. Lots of people like to hike there, but that trail is generally too busy and easy for my taste if that's all I'm doing.

This sign said the distance between Mueller Park and North Canyon was 3.1 miles, but according to my watch (twice now), it's exactly 4 miles.

Last night, on my way home from picking goatheads, I was surprised to see a Jerusalem cricket crossing the sidewalk. We used to find them in our house once a year or so, but it's been around two decades since I can recall seeing one.

They look like giant ants combined with bees.

So, yeah. Coming out and a fourteen-mile run were really the highlights of the week. Time for...

***

Pumpkinundation roundup!

The Pumpkin Pie Quest Protein Bar definitely had a spice flavor. I've had these before, and it was better than I remembered—maybe because I was hungry, or maybe because now I know what Quest bars generally taste like. 7/10.

Remember when I formally reviewed Pumpkin Spice Cup Noodles last year? I still had one leftover. It's weird but surprisingly edible. 7/10.

I really like SugarFix cookies, which are sold at certain gas stations. But the Sugar Fix Pumpkin Brown Sugar Cookie was drier than I remember it. I like the frosting though. 6/10.

The Mrs. Cavanaugh's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip had a strong pumpkin flavor. It reminded me of Arctic Circle pumpkin shakes. 8/10.

You probably saw that I formally reviewed the new Burger King Ghost Pepper Whopper, but you might not know that I had to go buy a second one, because they put the wrong cheese on the first one. This one was noticeably spicier. 8/10.

This is the second sandwich

The Blacksmith Apple Crisp Ice Cream has actual bits of apple crisp in it. It was delightful! 8/10.

Maybe I was just ice-creamed out, but the Blacksmith Pumpkin Cookie Butter Ice Cream wasn't that interesting to me. 6/10. (Blacksmith is an ice cream shop on Main Street in Bountiful.)

Sunbelt Bakery Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars don't really taste like pumpkin or spices to me, but they're fine. 6/10.