Fall

Fall is finally upon us! I've always loved fall. A lot of that has to do with the weather - the breezes, the pleasant temperatures, and the sound of rustling leaves.

Then in recent years I've expanded my repertoire of favorite fall foods, which has become another big reason to savor this time of year. This season I haven't cooked much that's decidedly fall-ish, except for a single batch of pumpkin soup. I tried a new recipe that was quite yummy, with only a few minor adjustments. I added extra garlic (of course!), used cubed sweet potatoes instead of the cubed butternut squash, and I added a teaspoon of dried rosemary to the veggies as they sauteed at the beginning rather than the fresh rosemary at the end. I told my toddler it was "Halloween soup." She bought into the idea, and has asked for it again several times since. Thanks goodness I had some left over in the freezer!

Incidentally, I have a new and fantastic reason to love fall. Now that my toddler is old enough to really "get" Halloween, it's been fun to re-discover it from a child's perspective. Last year she didn't really figure out what Halloween was about until it was completely over, and since then she's literally talked about it ever week. She's talked about trick-or-treating, debated about whether she should dress up as a princess or a ballerina, but mostly she's just asked why we can't have Halloween tomorrow. At one point when I told her Halloween wouldn't be for a long, long time, she responded, "Yeah, but we can still have 'different' Halloween."

So I knew that we would have to do Halloween in a BIG way this year. We have her costume ready to go, I'm working on costumes for me and my hubby, and we have no fewer than three Halloween parties to attend next week. Now I'm just wondering what I've missed. Wait a minute - I haven't planned my Halloween menu yet! And maybe I could squeeze in another party. OK, I better get to work . . .