Spice and Everything Nice

Now that it’s September, I suppose I am ready to fully embrace autumn. I absolutely love fall, it’s a fantastic season with glorious weather and traditions galore. But I wasn’t really ready to say goodbye to summer (I guess I’m still not, 100%, and there’s still a bit more left), to late nights on porches, to Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, to cookouts and no need to sweaters or jackets, to sundresses and sandals.
One thing that comes with the beginning of the fall season is PUMPKIN EVERYTHING.

At first, Brad and I were skeptical about drinking/eating anything pumpkin until we got deeper into September. But that quickly changed.
Seriously, do you realize how much pumpkin has popped up? How much more will come in the following weeks?

It starts with pumpkin coffee, which you can find at Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks (I run on Dunkin’.). I had an iced coffee this past weekend and immediately picked up the K-Cups for home. Their pumpkin coffee is to die for.

Then, for us beer lovers, you have all the Oktoberfest and PUMPKIN brews. Maybe beer and pumpkin doesn’t seem appealing, but oh my goodness, you are so wrong. There are many varieties to try, but local NEPA brewery Stegmaier makes a serious contender for the top. It’s inexpensive, which tends to scare people off, but it is yummy, spicy, and the aftertaste is practically pumpkin pie.
With the maltiness of beer, it is such an awesome taste surprise! Don’t miss out on pumpkin beers while you can get your hands on ‘em!

Here’s another Dunkin’ Donuts treat. I picked up a bunch of bagels for my friends and I on Monday and I saw they offered pumpkin cream cheese. There’s no doubt this could easily be made at home (I saw a recipe on Pinterest), but it was an awesome surprise and it was SO DARN GOOD. I wasn’t sure if I’d appreciate it enough to put it on my entire bagel (thus the regular cream cheese on the other half of the bagel), but I’d put this on everything, given the opportunity.

And finally, at the Italian Festival I attended in Scranton on Labor Day, they had a couple different rice pudding stands. I really enjoy rice pudding as it is, but add pumpkin and YUM. YUM. YUM.

I think it’s obvious that pumpkins are kind of the best.