Feels like a Falliday

By Tiffany Young

Usually people talk about new beginnings in the spring, but here in Texas, it’s always the fall that feels like a fresh start to me. Probably because our summers are so long and hot that we’re not sure we’re going to make it, and then the temperature drops 30 degrees and we feel like we can breathe again.

When I feel like starting over, I start going through my things to see what I can get rid of and start buying things that seem to fit me better. Often I’ll start cooking again and trying new things. It’s like a fresh outlook.

The past few weeks I’ve been editing my closet (things in colors I never where or seem to hang funny on me) and seeing what I might be missing (shoes, turtlenecks).

I’ve also been trying fall recipes, even though it’s not that cold.

Today,  I tried a Pumpkin French Toast recipe, adapted from Minimalist Baker: http://minimalistbaker.com/pumpkin-french-toast-bake/. It was good, but not as good as the carrot cake recipe I made from Flourish (or from King Arthur’s Flour). But really I changed up so many things in my carrot cake recipe it’s something totally different (but amazing) by now. Here’s the recipe: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/03/07/warning-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-carrot-cake-is-not-for-purists/. If you happen to run out of carrots, add some pumpkin puree to make up the amount—it’s terrific.

Anyway, like I’ve said, fall is for starting over and maybe life is like the carrot cake (sorry pumpkin French toast, but you’ve been trumped). You add all kinds of things to the cake and when you run out of something, you just throw something else into the mix and you’re not sure it’ll turn out, but it does. And it’s delicious. So, here’s to just throwing all sorts of new things into your life and seeing how it works out. And if you get halfway through making cream cheese frosting before realizing you’re out of powdered sugar, so be it. Life is sweet enough!