It's Beginning to Smell Like Pumpkin

To me, the perfect food is pumpkin. Followed closely by ginger. I think one of the reasons I enjoy pumpkin so much is that I only really have it September through November. So, it's a limited time only type of treat. There's something so rich and luscious about pumpkin. It's velvety complexity, it's brightness ... it's automatic connection to my favorite season: autumn.

Today was a crisp cool day. Like a sneak peek to autumn. In fact, when I went out for my morning run in capris and a tank ... I almost turned around. (And based on what every other runner was wearing ... I was definitely under-dressed.) The coolness of the air gave me goosebumps, but in a good way. In a way that said orchard season, warm drinks and sweaters are just on the horizon. Of course, it's Minnesota, so we'll have a few more heat waves that will be sprinkled here and there ... but nothing makes me so happy as leaves changing color and the scent of spice in the air.

The boys and I made a quick trip to a local shopping area to get K some new pants for school. There was Williams-Sonoma, and of course in the window display was their pumpkin bread. I told D I wanted to hop in and see if they had a GF version. They did. I bought two bags.

I baked one this afternoon. And now I have promptly ate too much of it. But yum. Of course, I just need to find a good recipe that I can adapt, because while I will buy a bag or two, it's a bit pricey and I have a fantastic GF gingerbread recipe made with almond flour that is absolutely amazing. But I don't start baking that until December!

The other discover on our little jaunt: Whole Foods. It may be hard to believe, but it was D and my first trip to a Whole Foods. We love grocery shopping, but until recently the only locations were in Minneapolis and St. Paul ... and it was hard to justify driving to them. Since we didn't realize this location was open, we weren't prepared to do any serious grocery shopping ... but we did take a self-tour of the place and picked up a few items that I usually have to pay for at the co-op (and a much heftier price) and we found our beloved St. Croix coconut water that our Target has stopped carrying ... and it was cheaper than what Target charges. So we got two 12-packs.

It's great to know that we now have a grocery store where we can get a little more gourmet healthy options and some harder to find things. Alas, it's still a 20-minute drive away. If only they would open one up on the North or Northeast side of the suburbs!