Pumpkin EVERYTHING

Ethiopian food last night was certainly not vegetarian friendly. Oh well, the kitfo was delicious and I'm glad we got to try a new place. Mmm. I can't even begin to explain my love of food. I love to eat it, cook it, smell it, look at pictures of it, read recipes in books and magazines, read about it on blogs.... I associate certain foods with celebration and sadness and family and seasons. I'm very grateful for my somewhat solid metabolism but all this exercise certainly helps too! Now that it's officially fall, I've been wanting to celebrate autumn food with warm, heavier dishes, Unfortunately, it doesn't get crisp here until early November-ish? On days like today, I do miss the northeast and the clear divide between the seasons. In fact, one time that I flew home during the fall, I basically cried during the descent because I was so happy to see the changing leaves on the trees (and unfortunately, I had typed that as dissent at first. ugh.). Here, it's hot April-October and an ambiguous rainy cool for the rest of the year.

As much as I love summer and the beach and the hot hot hot weather, I eagerly anticipate the change over to autumn. Especially after months of being sticky and sweaty in shorts and tanks, I love the comfort and warmth of fall clothing. Cable knits, sweater dresses, riding boots, scarves, leather jackets... delicious. Plus, once I'm all decked out in my northeast best, walking around Manhattan as the breeze gets sharp and leaves are changing just feels like... magic. (Don't worry. I rolled my eyes at myself on that one.) Even more so, I get to go home upstate and it's painfully beautiful there. Have you ever been out for a walk, hopefully with a great dog or friend, late on a fall evening and the cool air burns your face for the first time, your steps crunch, and the air smells faintly of wet leaves and fireplaces? Just the thought of those nights makes me so happy that I'm positively giddy when I actually get to do it. I think I still consider autumn as an opportunity for new beginnings because I associate it with the start of school (and new school supplies! Always a favorite). I usually find myself making changes and decisions and plans.

I also notice that I associate lots of my memories of places and people and things with walking... I think it's the most authentic way to experience a lot of things. Especially when I travel to a new place alone, I will leave my hotel with a map and walking aimlessly through side streets. There is much that isn't in a Fodor's that I've been able to discover just from my serious case of wanderlust. In fact, this summer in Brooklyn, I didn't have all that much to do so I would often wander around by myself for an hour or so and then use my phone to guide my way back. Found some great coffee, met some nice people, bought a cute dress.

Anyway, I ramble. Back to my love of fall foods. I've been craving a pumpkin scone recently, like the ones at Alice's. If I was as good of a baker as I wish I were, I would grab a real pumpkin at Whole Foods (I know they're available already) and make the whole thing from scratch, but I'll probably cheat and use canned crap. Or be really lazy and really cheat and make these: Pumpkin cupcakes. I could settle for my standard Irish soda bread recipe though (and a pot of Barry's) for a lovely Saturday afternoon, if only the darned weather would do as I say! Alas it will not. At least I'll be back in the city exactly three weeks from today. If I don't eat an Ess-a-bagel soon, I may truly expire on the spot.

Goodness, after writing all this, I can't wait to get back to New York for a bit. I never understand how I can love and miss an entire city so much that it's physically painful.

http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_about/parks_history/foliage.html

New trail and protein powder

After my bout of knee problems yesterday, I decided to cut my 5 mile run today by a bit and transfer to flat ground. In fact, I finally tried a new trail! I've been running the 2.1 mile loop by my apartment and it was getting pretty boring. In addition, there are parts with no sidewalk and some serious hills so that was definitely not going to help my knee. Due to some great searching by my mom, I went on a 15 minute drive out of town to try out the Brentwood Breezeway. It was a fantastic find! The loop around is about 6 miles I think, but I only did a portion of it due to time, light, and knee. I do hope to head back there for some of my long runs though. It is a whole lot more visually interesting than my current loop... AND FLAT! (Nashville is a pretty hilly place for those not familiar with the area.) I'm actually not even sure how far I ran as I left my watch at home (amazing how dependent I am on that thing now) but I'd estimate about 3 miles or so. I was pretty careful about my knee and walked whenever it started to fight me.

But really, isn't this trail just gorgeous? I kept taking pictures with my phone, probably to the annoyance of other runners on the trail...


Besides my run out there, I had a pretty low key day. I did manage to pick up a new protein powder. I'm definitely lagging on protein intake (only managed a measly 40 grams today) so I'm trying to squeeze some more in through this method as well as with low fat dairy and beans. First to try is GNC's be-BUFF Vanilla Bean Protein and Fiber Complete Mix. I bought it basically because I liked the new ads... I'm such a sucker for packaging and advertising. Today I had an OK shake with the powder and just water, but I'm hoping that adding a frozen banana will make it more palatable for me. This summer at Gold's Gym, I had an amaaaazing protein shake with some kind of chai tea powder, but I can't seem to replicate the flavor on my own yet. Anyone have suggestions for how to make protein shakes more tasty and fun?

Besides that, my school work is stressing me out a bit more than I'd like it to and I am hoping that I can start getting to bed earlier than my current 1:30am schedule, but we'll see how it goes. I know the work is only going to pile on as we head more into the semester. Speaking of heading into the semester, Happy Fall! I love this season and already made myself oatmeal with pumpkin butter and walnuts for breakfast tomorrow morning. Of course it won't be cool and autumny here for a bit, but I'm all ready to dive into fall foods. Butternut squash soup, apple cider, white bean chili... Mmm. Starved just thinking about it.