Pumpkin Passion

I recently finished reading the book Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. I’d say that it was mostly fluff and read more like a movie script than a novel but it was an enjoyable lazy summer read. Mostly I liked the whimsy of it. There was a woman hiding in a closet for almost the entire story, books that would appear out of nowhere and follow one of the characters around town, a possibly magical red sweater, and some fantastical romances.

One of the main story lines is a secret closet. In the main character’s closet is a small entrance to another closet that’s located in a different room. The main entrance to the secret closet is blocked by a giant armoire. No one else uses the closet or remembers the other entrance. In the closet, she stores travel magazines, romance novels, and lots and lots of candy that she has to sneak into the house and hide from her controlling mother. It got me to thinking about what I would hide if I had my own secret closet. There’s no use in storing candy in my secret closet because I’d eat all of it the same day I brought it in. Cupcakes wouldn’t preserve well and neither would pumpkin pies. I think I’d want to fill it with a collection of babushka dolls and Maneki Neko Beckoning Cats mixed with a few garden gnomes thrown in for the sake of being eclectic. A secret closet has so many possibilities!

I picked up the book while at Costco, mostly because I liked the cover and the title. I’d never heard of the author before. When I flipped open the book to peruse its pages, I opened it to this page:

Of course I had to buy it.

I actually had no idea what a pumpkin mellowcreme was until I did a google search. I was imagining something likes those Idaho Spuds candy bars; something fluffy with pumpkin flavor inside covered in chocolate with a sprinkling of pecans on the outside. Nope! It’s those tiny candy pumpkin that taste like candy corn. They’re only available around Halloween time. Those things make my teeth hurt just thinking about them. My initial guess was that it only takes four ingredients to make the pumkin mellowcreme: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, green food coloring and orange food coloring. I was close; they also contain honey. They taste absolutely nothing like pumpkins.

What I also learned from my google search is that people actually go nuts over these things. There’s even an entire website devoted to the pumpkin mellowcreme. Their tagline is “Debunking the myth that eating them incessantly will kill you.” They have a poem, discussion board, photos, and information on the tiny-pumpkin-looking-tooth-decayers. I thought my blog was super nichey but this one makes me look like a generalist!

Sugar Queen is a thumbs up as a mellow read and pumpkin mellowcremes are a thumbs up only as a cute pumpkin cupcake topper.

Name: Zachary’s Pumpkin Spice Gourmet Candy Corn
Purchased At: Walmart
Price: $3.99
Availability: Seasonal

This season, there’s a strange phenomenon going on with candy corn. There are currently several different types of gourmet candy corn in stores—to me that’s similar to gourmet spam, it just doesn’t exist. Target has a variety of flavors including Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine, Green Apple (plus Chocolate Covered Green Apple), Toffee and S’Mores. This particular Pumpkin Spice Candy Corn was found at Walmart (don’t hate me Sharon!). Even Walmart is carrying gourmet candy corn?!?!

I feel strange even admitting this but these were really good. When I first saw them on the shelves I think I groaned because I knew I had to purchase them for blogging purposes. Candy corn, pumpkin mellowcremes, and all the other similar candies are not my favorite. They are the last eaten and reserved only for sugar emergencies. My expectations were very low, low, low.

These did have a mellow pumpkin spice flavor to them. They were also somewhat soft and almost creamy—let’s just say they were fresh. I enjoy eating them in small quantities sporadically. We’ve had them for almost two weeks now and they are almost gone. This is surprisingly quick for candy corn but slower than a snail’s pace for candy—most candy in our house is gone within two days tops.

I recommend them for lovers of candy corn and pumpkin mellowcremes but others won’t find them all that spectacular.

Rating: 4 out of 5

I may be the only person who takes New Year’s Resolutions seriously. The big major resolution I made this year (truth be told, last year as well) was to have my own Etsy site up and running. If you don’t know about Etsy, click here immediately and check it out. For those of you no taking my advice I will tempt you more by explaining that Etsy is a site filled with handmade stuff off a wide variety. Different artisans have their own page where they sell anything from crocheted penis pillows to felted cupcake pin cushions that even your grandmother would love.

With everything being handmade, all the items are unique and the sellers are amazingly sweet. When was the last time you made a purchase from Amazon and they sent you a handwritten card saying thank you and if there are any problems with your purchase please contact them and they’ll make it right? I’ve even worked with one seller, Atlantis Designs, to make a one-of-a-kind birthday present for a friend. The gift was a melted glass replica of the cover from the book Stargirl and then I had her make two necklaces of the same cover. It was awesome and my friend loved it. Here’s another necklace I purchased on Etsy from MetalSugar that I absolutely love.

Currently, I’m working on creating some items for my own page. I want to have at least 9 items completed before I open. So far I have a purse, some zipper pouches, and some onesies completed. This weekend I’m working on some zipper pouches for Halloween. I just found the most amazing pumpkin ribbon at Jo-Ann’s Fabric Store that I’ll share once I finish the pouches.

This story was just for background purposes on this week’s Photo Friday. Heather saw some pumpkin chocolate truffles on Etsy and thought they might interest me. Not only do they look completely delectable, it’s also a beautiful photo and so I share it with you at the top of this entry.

Jane of All Trades tends to sell out of them but it seems like she restocks quickly. Yummy!

Name: Pumpkin Pie Flavored Jelly Belly Beans
Purchased At: Oak Glen, CA
Price: Forgotten Again!
Availability: Seasonal but I found them in July

I adore me some Shannon! She found me a community that’s practically stuck in the fall season the whole year round. It’s the community of Oak Glen, CA. Located in the San Bernardino Mountains, Oak Glen is primarily a series of apple farms.

In the fall months, you can pick your own apples right off the trees and shop for a ton of country related nic-nac crap at the many gift shops. Most of the points of interest are open only in the fall months but others remain open continuously.

The great thing about a Fall obsessed community is that there’s plenty of homage given to our favorite squash-like fruit, the pumpkin. In fact, at the very first orchard that you come to while traveling up Oak Glen Road has an entire section of its store dedicated to the pumpkin.

It was here that I came across the Pumpkin Pie flavored Jelly Belly beans. I later found out that these are a seasonal item but I guess they had some left over from the 2007 Pumpkin Eatin’ Season, which could explain why they were so blah. The flavor was off, tasting very artificial but mostly not tasting at all. They made me sad. I finally find a pumpkin product in the middle of July and we didn’t even finish the tiny bag that we bought.

I’ll be back to Oak Glen in the fall and hopefully there will be more and better pumpkin finds.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Name: Pumpkin Cheesecake Caramels
Purchased At: Olives Gourmet Grocers
Price: $8.99 a pound
Availability: Seasonal

I purchased these in the evening when it was much too dark to take a picture for blogging posterity purposes. By the morning I had only 3 little Pumpkin Cheesecake Caramels left.

These were quite yummy! The pumpkin factor was strong and the originality of the flavor combinations was high. They really did taste like pumpkin and cheesecake.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be seeing these again until next October.

Rating: 4 out of 5