Pumpkin Passion

It’s 103 degrees around here. The weather couldn’t feel further from Fall but our spirits have already eagerly accepted that the seasons will eventually change. We started our Fall tradition of watching all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls. That show is pretty much shot perpetually in Fall. It makes sense. The show was supposed to take place in Connecticut but was actually filmed in Burbank, CA. It couldn’t be easy creating those winter episodes with Luke’s Diner buried under 4 feet of snow while the temperature outside was probably closer to 80 degrees.

Not only do I know that Fall is close because the Gilmore Girls marathon has started but also because i keep hearing about new Fall treats. For instance, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts now has a limited edition Frosted Pumpkin Pie. This is one of those things that makes me wonder why waited so long. Of course there should be a pumpkin pie Pop-Tart! If you see it, please let me know where you found them. These are a 2010 Pumpkin Eatin’ Season Must-Have.

If I make up tomorrow and find that the Frosted Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts are just a dream, there’s always the d.i.y. option here.

It looks like the pumpkin shortage is over! Can I hear some “Hip Hip Hooray!!” I’ve seen fully stocked shelves in several different stores.

Also, last week the Hungry Girl newsletter made the announcement:

True, it’s been a rough few months of gazing at the empty market shelves where the canned pumpkin should be. But — good news — the pumpkin shortage is OVER! One thing to note: The pumpkin you get from your cans of Libby’s may have a slightly different texture than before (a little softer). However, that kind of thing happens with all-natural products and varies from crop to crop. Who cares? Pumpkin is back!

The newsletter also referenced a Daily Herald article with this tidbit of information, “The grocers said prices of canned pumpkin are essentially the same as last year.”

Let the pumpkin baking begin!

The photo is courtesy of cupcakequeen

It’s November 2nd . . . where did October go? All the pumpkin patches are gone. No more pumpkin festivals to attend. Such a downer. Is anyone else bummed that Halloween is already over?

We decorated this past weekend with all the pumpkins we’ve purchased. There have been lots of pumpkin purchases lately which is why we may need to resort to eating Top Ramen until pay day. Most of these pumpkins were purchased from the Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch in Yucaipa, CA. Others are from Trader Joe’s and Home Depot. Home Depot?!?!?

If you just want a simple carving pumpkin Home Depot is your best bet. Each pumpkin is only $2.99 but they tend to sell out quick!

Where have you found cheap pumpkins this year?

I recently saw a recipe for pumpkin waffles and thought I’d give it a try and maybe even blog about it. Now, I’m hesitant to review the recipe because I made the waffles early in the morning before I’d had any coffee and I went out and bought the only waffle maker left on the shelves of a local department store that was a total cost of $6.98 plus tax plus and I had to use LIBBY’S Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix instead of the pureed pumpkin that the recipe requested. With all that stacked against it, the pumpkin waffles were a disaster. They were flat, runny, and burt in the middle.

I can’t blame the disater on a bad recipe until I at least try the recipe again using all the right ingredients and with a decent waffle maker. I ended up salvaging them by adding an extra cup of flour and making pancakes out of them instead. The texture was a little funky for pancakes but the flavor was delicious.

So, I’m blogging about not wanting to blog about this recipe in order to tell you that this was the first time I’d discovered there is a serious pumpkin shortage in the United States. WHAT?!?! Yes, just go to your supermarket and try to find canned pumpkin. For a good number of places the cans are missing!
My extensive google searching capabilities have solved the mystery: a chilly, damp summer in the Midwest and Northeast has hurt the pumpkin crop. There’s a great two-part series on the shortage at the “Daily News Transcript.” Their conclusion is:

Nationwide, the shortage of warm, sunny days has caused spotty pumpkin growth. Some pumpkin patches were ruined by the rain and many farmers had to re-plant, delaying the peak season in some places. Also, pumpkins are pollinated by bees, farmers said, and bees don’t fly in the rain.

The difference, local farmers have said, is in the soil – if the soil is heavy to begin with, the added rain will drown the pumpkins. However, if the soil is dry, the pumpkins turn out OK.

Now that I can find any canned pumpkin, everywhere I turn I keep finding delicious looking pumpkin recipes: Pumpkin Flat Bread with Caramelized Onions; My Best Pumpkin Bread; Pumpkin Spice No-Bake Cheesecake; and Pumpkin Hummus.

I’ve heard that organic canned pumpkin is easier to find. I must go on a search this weekend! Pumpkin Eatin’ Season 2009 cannot be a total bust!

Rating for Pumpkin Shortage: 0 out of 5
Rating for the article on the pumpkin shortage that can be found here and here:
5 out of 5

After a random connection led us to the topic of Christmas in the month of May, a friend of mine made the observation that her girlfriend can take any discussion and always bring it back to the topic of sex and my wife can bring any discussion and bring it back to Christmas. Ohhh so VERY true!!! My topic is, of course, pumpkins.

To test this theory I’m going to try blogging in the off season and bringing my discussions back to pumpkins. When I started thinking about using pumpkins as a spring board for this blog I began noticing that pumpkins really are everywhere. To prove this theory I bring you the topics of a painfully annoying commute and a new pretty little PC.

I really do have a painfully annoying commute. It’s two hours to work and two hours home. The morning isn’t all that bad. Mostly I spend it asleep on the train and, when awake, praying that I don’t snore too loud when I fall back to sleep. The two hours on the way home are the most annoying. I just want to get home, relax and add a little fun to my day. The train ride home is not relaxing or fun. There’s a woman sitting across from me right now who’s LOUDLY talking on her cell phone in Spanish. I’m grateful at least that she’s speaking a language I’ve flunked several times over. In these close quarters, I’ve heard many a cell phone and personal conversations I never wanted to hear: There was the woman discussing the gynecologists visit she’s on her way to; the guy discussing in detail all the groceries he purchased over the weekend; the man showing the woman he’s sitting next to naked pictures of himself; the woman who whispers “Target” when it comes up in conversation as though she’d gone to a nuddie bar and must hide it in shame; and the crazy woman who swears her ID doesn’t look like her because 5 female San Bernardino Police Officers beat her up the night before she had to have her ID picture taken. There’s been so many details of people lives that I really don’t need to know forced upon me by oblivious commuters (the cell phone discussion is still going on and has gotten even louder, ugh!).

I’ve tried many a things to take my mind of the annoyances and to make this time at least somewhat productive–I’ve knitted many a scarves; done some needlepoint, with pricks in my fingers to prove it; Nintendo DC; the solitaire game on my cell phone; podcasts on the ipod; reading can only keep me interested for so long when I’ve just spent 8 hours reading article after article on family planning for work. My latest scheme to keep me entertained is my brand spankin’ new EEE PC, which was delivered to me less than 8 hours ago. It’s so bright, shiny, and new. I love it! Besides, a good electronics purchase is a guaranteed mood up lifter.

So yes, I can lead a discussion of an annoying commute and a new Laptot back to pumpkins because now I can blog about pumpkins even more . . . Oh yeah, and I named my little PC “Lil’ Pumpkin.” Too cute!

You know how it is when you don’t call a friend for a while and then you start feeling guilty so you don’t call them some more because you don’t want to get called out on your neglectfulness? Well that’s how I feel about pumpkinpassion.

I’m caught because pumpkin is ridiculously seasonal (HELLO! I live in Southern California where I can get just about any fruit or vegetable throughout the year. Why not pumpkins?). Do I close the blog down between the months of February through August or do I expand it in such away that I can post the entire year? I’m still caught on how I would expand it but there are a couple of thoughts floating around my head. We’ll soon see which wins.

For now, here is a very cute pumpkin find made today:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

About two weeks ago, the weather in Southern California was unseasonably cool. In fact, it was so cool that I could easily imagine that fall was right around the corner. Then, Shannon and I went to dinner at Lucille’s BBQ in Belmont Shores and while waiting for our table we walked over to CVS (disclaimer: it may not have been an actual CVS…I tend to call all pharmacies/drug stores “CVS”). They had and an entire shelf of pumpkins and other fall paraphernalia. I had to check myself and ask “what month is this?” JULY! It was the middle of July and they’re already bringing out their pumpkins? I guess my plans for Year-Round PUMPKIN DOMINATION have almost succeeded.

It made me itch to start blogging again.

Things got crazy over the holidays and unfortunately pumpkin postings temporarily stopped. Even though the beginning of the new year signals a decline in the availability of pumpkin products, I have a backlog of reviews to finish and even some recipes to share. Pumpkin postings will continue through to the next “Pumpkin Eatin’ Season.”

Since I’m feeling a little nostalgic, here’s a wrap up of pumpkins in 2007:

Favorite Pumpkin Product Overall
Those dang pumpkin bars at Creative Cakery!!! So yummy! I’ll miss ya till the next season.

Biggest Pumpkin Disappointment
Every pumpkin cupcake I’ve tried.

Pumpkin Discontinuation that will be Most Missed
Primal Elements’ Pumpkin Sugar Whip. Luckily I got a 53 oz. tub on closeout and it’s still half full but I’m not even going to think about what I’ll do once it’s gone…maybe make my own!

***A quick aside: It would have been the Pure Simplicity Scrub and Body Butter at Bath & Body Works but it’s not entirely clear as to whether it’s been discontinued or not. I’ve seen it around since the send off but it’s still not available on their website.

Best Pumpkin Beverage
I haven’t blogged it yet but the Kennebunkport Pumpkin Ale was really good. I’d given up on finding a pumpkin ale that I would look forward to each pumpkin season but this one is a keeper.

Best PumpkinPassion Blog Comment
Kylie’s comment, which can be found on this post. It’s soo freaking sweet! Thanks!!!

I think those are all of the stand outs in 2007 reviews. I hope you all gorged yourself enough on pumpkin this season to last you until the next.

Happy New Year!!!

Photo is courtesy of Teo under a Creative Commons license.

This summer I took my ultimate dream vacation! Since my undergraduate days, majoring in Women’s Studies, I’ve wanted to visit Seneca Falls, New York. Seneca Falls was the site of the first Women’s Rights Convention back in 1848. The site is now a National Park consisting of a Visitor’s Center; the Wesleyan Chapel, the actual site of the First Women’s Rights Convention; Elizabeth Cady Stanton home; and a statue near the river bank commemorating the meeting of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was truly a dream come true.

What does all of this have to do with a blog about pumpkins? Well, at the Visitor’s Center we saw a display on the gender gap. This is the text of the display:

Apples and Pumpkins and Cans of Worms

In 1990, women earned 68% of what men did for the same job. Two plans to lessen the gender gap in wage earning are equal pay for equal work, and pay equity (or comparable worth). Equal pay for equal work means the same wage for the same job regardless of who does it. In pay equity, elements of a job are given a number value. The total scores of various jobs are compared. Jobs with similar scores earn similar salaries.

Civil rights legislation passed in the 1960’s and 1970’s forbids wage discrimination on account of sex or race. But pay equity encountered strong opposition. In 1977, Washington State Governor Dixie Lee Ray denied a request for pay equity because she felt the study proving inequity compared “apples and pumpkins and cans of worms and they are not comparable.” Now Washington, Minnesota and other state governments are required by law to use pay equity to determine wages.