Fall!

Things I love about fall:

• Pumpkins!
• The smell of leaves
• Cozy sweaters
• Holding a cup of tea just warm enough to warm you up
• Knitting! (Okay, I always love knitting, but it just feels *right* during the fall)
• The color of the light (I swear it's more golden)
• Fresh baked bread (I also like this about winter. Summer? Not so much.)
• The way marigolds are mirrored in the foliage (This refers to specific marigolds and specific trees, yes, but I still love it!)

This year I haven't done quite so much baking. For September I was too busy (and too tired) to do much - just roasting brussel sprouts took all the food energy I have! Plus there's this whole trying to become more compact thing. Starting tomorrow, I'm going on an almost-week-long trip to New York with one of my best friends from highschool (hi M!) and I know whatever we eat will be less healthy than the nice meat or fish and two or three vegetable meals I've been eating at home. That's one thing I do like about being home - my family really has this whole 'cooking dinner' thing down pat.

I've been tentatively planning my birthday party (mostly in my mind) and I think I'll make my absolute favorite pumpkin pancakes then. The recipe makes somewhere upwards of 30 pancakes, and they're filling enough I can rarely eat more than two or three. Last year when I made them I froze the extras in little preportioned ziplocks - three mini pancakes per bag - and I'd just pull them out and defrost them in the toaster when I had a bit of extra time for breakfast - or just when I wanted something a little more decadent. They're great with yogurt and maple syrup with a cup of chai! The only thing I change in the recipe is I double all the spices. I generally double cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in any sweet recipe that calls for them, it adds a little spice.

Anyways, New York! I've been looking all around my bookshelves for my NFT guide (which I bought for my first tourist outing to the city, of course) so I could bring that along with my Moleskine City notebook. I don't know the city that well, having only been a few times. M, my friend I'm traveling with, lived there while she interned at a museum a few summers ago, so I'm counting on her to introduce me to all the fun places. My only plans are to hopefully hit Alice's Teacup and PurlSoho. Tea and yarn! Two of my favorite things. Oh! We're also going to see Pygmalion, thanks, in large part, to Hiptix, a program the Roundabout Theatre runs to make theatre more affordable for the under thirtyfive set. It's free to join, so if you're going to be in the New York area and fit the age limits, I'd encourage it. I have a special place in my heart for Roundabout after seeing their Threepenny Opera last summer staring Alan Cumming, Nellie Mckay, and Cindi Lauper. It was a Wallace Shawn translation! I do get what the critics hated, but I enjoyed it.

I think I'm going to play around with my template to see if I can't get something a little more fall appropriate. Later!