It Must Be Fall

Living in Hawaii is odd. Everyday is pretty much the same, warm and sunny. Usually between 70 and 85 degrees. Maybe a little warmer in the summer and maybe a bit cooler on a winter night. In the winter it rains more. Even when it rains it is still sunny for part of the day, at least somewhere on the island. Sometimes it even rains while the sun is shining. It's really pretty cool. Winter is great for rainbows.

Since looking out the window doesn't offer much of a clue as to the time of year we have to rely on other methods.

I am pretty sure that Fall arrived last week. I've been drinking a lot of hot cocoa, and that is definitely Fall activity. True, it is usually late at night, in my air conditioned bedroom, or early morning, before the sun has risen and the temperature is just barely under the 70 degree mark. I really love hot cocoa and the stores here don't carry the good stuff. Thanks to my friends on the mainland for the steady supply of Stephen's - keep it comin'! (Irish Creme is my current favorite, with Dulce de leche running a close second.)

Here is the real clue - I have washed the beaters to my mixer at least 4 times this week. That means 2 things - baking and mashed potatoes. Both of which are Fall-ish sort of things. What would Thanksgiving be without mashed potatoes? I have made real deal mashed potatoes twice this week. Once with red and once with white, and 2 different types of gravy. Do you see a theme here??

Yesterday I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They were gone about 10 minutes after we arrived home from church today. If you have never had these, you are missing out. They're awesome! I will be making more of those sometime real soon.

I just pulled a pan of banana muffins out of the oven. It is my mom's banana bread recipe, I just make it in muffin tins rather than a loaf. It bakes in less than half the time and it is easy to grab for breakfast on the run.

I also have this urge to wear fuzzy sweaters, corduroy and really cool boots. Of course by noon I would be sweating to death and miserable, so this passes rather quickly.

It MUST be Fall.