Thursday, November 06, 2008

Episode 15- Attack of the pumpkin spice lattes

Friends, Romans, Cupcakes, lend me your ears (or sprinkles). I have a problem. And that problem is holiday flavor. Actually, it's not a problem per-se, but more of a teeny-tiny growing addiction.

See, in France, the holidays don't really have a flavor. Actually, that's a lie. In France, the holidays taste like FOIE GRAS and CHAMPAGNE. And they are DELICIOUS. I ate more incredible things than I could count. Oh god, French celebrations. Oysters! Roasts! Drinking! Toasts! More drinking! (See also, last Christmas and what we ate there). But there's no special holiday flavored baking section that involves pumpkin and gingerbread and cinnamon and nutmeg. Sure, there are les buches and chocolate, pain d'epices and vin chaud. You could eat your weight in desserts (I think I have). But you can't get the breadth of "holiday flavor" products that you can here. And after three years without a pumpkin spice latte, or gingerbread-scented something, I have started to over-indulge.

The thing is that I do love me some pumpkin. And Thanksgiving. And all of the warm fall-winter flavors that transition from November to Christmas. So it's been a sensory overload lately in the stores and shops. I nearly keeled over for a candle at Anthropologie (but regained my senses over the price- 18 dollars ow). And last night at Trader Joe's I went in for strawberries and left with canned pumpkin (what a novelty! I won't have to roast a squash every time I want pumpkin-something), pumpkin granola and pumpkin butter. Oops.

Cupcakes do as cupcakes will, and I have decided to approach this from a "research" perspective. Very scientific. And hopefully delicious. Not only will I find out which products are worth it, but I may overcome this growing addiction before next year due to over-saturation! Huzzah!

And if I start to gain too much weight then I'll just go ride my bike. But that's another story.

Confession- I sort of missed Starbucks holiday drinks. Mostly because they remind me of the year that Steve and I tried all of them and one day we went together to the Starbucks near campus and we had either peppermint mochas or gingerbread lattes and then it started to snow and it was beautiful. Whew. But come one, Christmas drinks at the beginning of November? It is not time yet! Leave me my fall and my pumpkin! And take those red cups away!

So... stay tuned for pumpkin beer?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i just want you to know that I fully support this "scientific" experiment which you are undertaking. Bravo and way to embrace the Americanness with which you are surrounded. Oh and that pumpkin spice latte you got at Starbucks the other day smelled wonderful.