Fall fests

September continues to be a wonderful month!

Two years ago, my parents planted a peach tree. Unfortunately, the peaches are small and not very good (maybe they'll get better with time?), so they're not good for just plain eating. So I made them into an upside-down cake with fresh mint leaves. It was the first time I had ever baked with peaches before, so my mom had to explain blanching to me. I was really pleased with the result! Somehow, this might have been the fluffiest cake I've ever made. I usually make this recipe with plums, but sometimes I have used cherries and apricots.

I had signed up last-minute for a Labor Day triathlon at the South Davis Recreation Center. Labor Day can sometimes be an uninteresting day, so I wanted to do something fun and memorable. This was my first time doing the Labor Day tri, but it was identical to the May tri. (They used to do a reverse triathlon, with running, biking, and swimming, but I don't know why they changed it.)

It was an exceedingly rainy day. The roads were all flooded as I made my way to the rec center, and I worried about the actual race. I got my packet, and they wrote "188" on my arm and leg.

In May, I psyched myself out during the swim portion. But this time, I did not! I alternated between freestyle and backstroke, as I had hoped to do, and it ended up being my fastest swim for a triathlon (this was my fourth tri). Phew! It was 350 yards (seven laps or fourteen lengths).

Next I headed out for the twelve-mile bike portion. It was extremely rainy. Five years ago, a triathlon coach encouraged wearing sunglasses during the bike, presumably to protect your eyes from bugs or gravel. Since I no longer wear glasses, sunglasses seemed like a good option to protect my eyes. But they were too dark, and they were all foggy, so I soon realized I wouldn't be able to see with them on. It was raining so hard that one guy said, "We signed up for this!" as he passed me. It was hard to keep the rain from dripping into my eyes. I sang Lady Gaga songs to myself to keep up my morale. The rain let up a little bit, but it still lightly rained the rest of the time. For some reason, the biking seemed easier this time than last time, even though it was raining. I don't do very well on the bike portion, since I just have a mountain bike that I never use for mountain biking.

And then it was time for the three-mile running portion, my best of the three parts. I was in the top 20 percent for this portion, whereas I was in the bottom half for the others. I was slower  than last time, but my Garmin watch still registered it as my fastest 5k. (Last time, it was just barely under a 5k, so my watch didn't count it.)

Overall, it was a fun race, despite (or because of?) the rain. There's not a lot of imagery associated with Labor Day, so I was pleased with the tools and hard hats of the race swag.

In the evenings, I continue to enjoy trail running, with the sunflowers and changing leaves.

September is also grasshopper season.

And also, I got more holiday sweaters this week from HalloweenCostumes.com.

I am obsessed with this sweater! I love literally every detail about it. Now I just have to wait for a cold day.

September is still fair/festival season, so yesterday, my family headed down to the Old Capitol Arts & Living History Festival in Fillmore. We went because my dad is from Fillmore, and my cousin Terrill was playing in a band at the festival. There was a schoolhouse from 1867 that we got to go into. Even though my dad is from Fillmore, I had never been in it. 

On our way back, we passed a truck on fire.

Then last night, I was raking some pine needles in the yard, and I made a friend! It was a very friendly cat. It seemed really skinny, but every cat is skinny compared to Reggie. It rubbed against me and even let me pick it up. 

I like its two-toned nose! But it's still not as cute as Reggie.

Then last night, I had a dream that I was cast as the lead in a play. My character was a man named Charles, and it was the story of how he became successful. We were doing a practice by reading the script, but even though it was a practice, we still had an audience. I later realized this was a variation of one of my recurring dreams. My recurring dreams are:

• Being in a play without knowing the script
• Being a missionary again, usually without proselyting clothes or a companion
• Lady Gaga at church or otherwise hanging out with me
• After the freezing rain incident of 2013, I had recurring dreams (nightmares) about ice, but I haven't had one for a long time

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For the first time since I started eight years ago, I am starting a soft opening of pumpkinundation roundup a week early! I don't officially start the season until September 15. However, during early September, I can have pumpkin things under certain situations: if it's not candy or dessert, or if I won't be able to have it later (e.g., flavor of the week or something at a fair). 

I got this Great Value Candy Corn Flavored Syrup last year, but since I don't use syrup that much, I still have a mostly full bottle. It's OK. 5/10.

I got this Fred Openshaw Farms Honeycrisp Apple Cider at the Bountiful farmers market. It's OK. I've found I'm less tolerant of juice, which is just so sugary. 6/10.

Also at the farmers market, I got Hathaway's Pantry pumpkin bread, made in Ogden. It was kind of bland. 5/10.

However, I still had this Land O' Lakes Pumpkin Pie Spice Butter Spread, which was still good even though I bought on Thanksgiving last year. It vastly improved the bread. I don't really like butter, but in small amounts, it's more like frosting. 7/10.

At the Fillmore festival, I got this Sweet Stop Hawaiian Shaved Ice Caramel Apple Combo. It had ice cream in the center, then apple flavoring and caramel on top. I enjoyed it. However, I have found that with shaved ice, it's generically sweet, but the individual flavors generally aren't too strong. 7/10.

Also at the Fillmore festival, I got this Mix & Match Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, made in Fillmore. This one was much better than the other—not only did the chocolate chips improve it, but the spices were more pronounced. 8/10.

At the same fair, against my better judgment, I got Monks Honey Chunks Pumpkin Spice Honey Butter, made in Roosevelt. I like honey butter at Chuck-A-Rama, but this one was too much butter and not enough honey for my tastes. 5/10.

Since I eat so many carbs at this time of year, I love to pair savory, protein-rich foods with Thomas' Pumpkin Spice English Muffins (usually a fried egg and cheddar cheese, as I did here). I'm not a big fan of English muffins generally, but these are better than most. And paired with egg and cheese, they're wonderful! I first had them in 2013, and I'm glad they keep coming back. 8/10.

And one of this week's flavors was the Crumbl Caramel Pumpkin Cake Cookie. Cake is not my favorite texture for a cookie, especially if it doesn't have chocolate chips. But for some reason, I really liked this cookie this time. The caramel cream cheese frosting really brought it all together. I ate this instead of eating lunch, rather than eating it in addition to lunch. 8/10.