FALLing in Love

Warm sunshine breaking through crisp fresh air. Feet crinkling fallen leaves on the sidewalk. Trees changing the hillside into a collage of yellow, orange, red, and brown. Pumpkins. Cinnamon. Cloves. Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce. Molasses. Butternut squash. Pumpkin Bread. Yum. It must be Fall, and I'm in love!

Growing up, Fall always was my favorite season. It meant the start of school, field hockey games-way back in Middle School when I actually played sports, raking leaves into a large neat pile only to jump in it into disarray mere minutes later, breaking out lightweight sweaters and scarves, falling backwards with an extra hour of sleep, candy corn, and settling into the coziness of the holiday season. Living in Los Angeles for the past few years where the only season is sunshine, I quickly forgot how much I enjoy the freshness of Fall (although I did still manage to eat many a candy corn!). So Yay that I'm in Portland experiencing the season before jetting off to Summer once again.

We went to a farm on Sauvie Island the other weekend in search of our mandatory October pumpkins, and it was so much fun! We started our day by eatting lunch, which for me was a fresh piece of corn on the cob with salt and butter. Seriously, the most delicious thing I've eaten in weeks--and I eat only scrumptious food. I'm salivating just thinking about it again! Sweet, savory, crunchy, complex yet comforting, corn on the cob really is something I could eat everyday for the rest of my life.

Our tummies full of starchy goodness, we hopped on a wagon and got a ten-minute ride out to the pumpkin patch. Pumpkins. Everywhere. I didn't even know where to begin my search! Big ones, little ones, green ones, orange ones, rotten ones; too many choices. After an eternity of cross-comparing my top five, I settled on my slightly lopsided, pale orange baby, which still had its leaves intact from when I picked it off the vine. Why did Petunia win? Her texture; she was the smoothest pumpkin I ever felt. So soft and silky that Mike, awestruck, said "that pumpkin is so smooth it's sexy!" Also, Petunia sounded nice and hollow, a sign of a healthy pumpkin, and I couldn't wait to harvest and toast her sexy seeds.

After the pumpkin patch we made our way into the Pumpkin Patch Market. Upon walking thru the doorway I went bug-eyed and uttered a small squeal. So much fresh food! I left Katherine and Mike behind and embarked on at least an hour-long visual, olfactory, and tactile journey through the rows of buckets of farm produce. I walked by familiar types of pears, bananas, broccoli, and peppers; I perused unknown crops of peaches and plums, as well as the juiciest, most succulent red tomatoes ever. There were these crazy big white beans encased in a purpley-pink marble pod. Fresh fennel. Sweet potatoes. I found more ears of corn. Before I knew it, my basket weighed a good ten pounds and I could no longer lug it around--after all I didn't come to Sauvie Island for an arm workout!--so I did what any sane person would do and traded in the basket for a cart.

Then, I caught a whiff of the most appley apple scent. I started smelling every type of apple in sight until I found the source of that sweet fragrance. Imagine the smell of applesauce, then intensify it by five and that's what the one apple in my hand smelled like. It was the most aromatic apple I'd ever encountered. To be honest, I can't even remember the name of the type of apple it was, all I knew was that I had to buy these two-toned pale green and pink fruits and see if the flesh tasted as good as the way the skin smelled; they did not disappoint.

Before leaving the farm we all got carmel apples for the road. I've never been a huge fan of carmel apples--they're sticky and they fall off their wood pole and what am I suppose to do with the apple once the carmel is gone?--but this was totally different. I realized I'd never had carmel until that moment. Dark, thick, soft, and not overly sweet, this carmel didn't leave stringy bits over my chin or stick my teeth together. I savored every bite of that sweet treat, shaking my head in disbelief at the divine flavors tantalizing my taste buds the entire time. I confess, I am now converted to a lover of carmel apples, if only the ones from that wonderful farm on Sauvie Island.

Take advantage of the bounty of deliciousness that Fall brings. There are so many types of yummy squashes that cook up in no time and add gorgeous color to your day. Few things can top a hot root vegetable soup on a cool and cloudy evening--can cooking get any easier than throwing things into a pot and letting them simmer for an hour?! I think not. Alas, I must be off. Petunia is staring at me, and while I have enjoyed having her as the centerpiece for my table, I want toasted pumpkin seeds more!