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Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2018

Posted by Carolyn on October 14, 2018 2 Comments

I know that this is post everyone has been waiting for! Let’s get right to it!

This year, we had all the original tasters together again! Yay! No wind storms kept people from Bend, no family birthday parties kept people away, no gut issues kept people from imbibing! It was darn near perfect to have our best friends all in one place.

As with 2017, 2016, and 2015, we used a 5 point scale (allowing for half points, thus rendering it into an effective 10 point scale) using the following rubric:

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

Again, we discussed if we rate on a pumpkin-ness scale, and again, we decided to leave it up to the taster.

This year we had 10 beers and threw 2 ciders in for the heck of it. We’re wild like that.

Here we go… CHEERS!

1st Place- The Great Pumpkin by Elysian Brewing: 4.5 points. This is a classic pumpkin beer that has been in our top 4 (earning 1st place in 2015, even!) every single year we do this. As always, Elysian was a stand-out in the pumpkin beer universe. This is just a good, smooth pumpkin beer. Spiced but not too much, pumpkin but not too much.

2nd Place- Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin by New Belgium: 4.0 points. This one was spicy! I didn’t actually really like it, but everyone else did and the score reflects this. I think some people actually gave it a 5. This beer is brewed with habanero and other chilies and spices. It isn’t kick you in the face spicy, but it does leave a hot feeling down the back of your throat. It’s different that the usual pumpkin pie spice beer and that’s fun.

3rd Place- Night Owl by Elysian: 4 points, then 3.5 points, so an average of 3.75 points. This was the beer we used to test our rating system and our tasting apparatus – we tatsed it at the beginning of the night and rated it at a 4, then again and it scored a 3.5. I still like this one. It’s a good pumpkin pie, good spiced taste. Any way you look at it, this beer placed 3rd.

4th Place- Punkuccino by Elysian Brewing: 3.3888 points. This is a darker beer with a good hint of Stumptown coffee to it. You can taste the roast, but it didn’t taste burned and bitter. Elysian does it again with a good batch of Punkuccino.

5th Place (tie)- Dark Knife by Elysian: 2.9375 Points. At 4.3% ABV, this is a smooth drinking pumpkin beer. It was unique to our test as a German Schwarzbier, and I liked it. Elysian does it again for 2018, rounding it out with four of our top 5 beers!

5th Place (tie)- Pumpkin Spice by Portland Cider Company: 2.9375. This was the good cider of the year. It tasted like a good, crisp, apple cider, with just a hint of all the pumpkin spices. It wasn’t too sweet, and our team seemed to really appreciate that about it. While I wouldn’t really say it was on the same level of the pumpkin beers, according to our scale, we would all drink this with no problem.

6th Place (tie)- Imperial Pumpkin Porter by Epic Brewing: 2.8125. I think I sort of liked this one, but it didn’t knock our socks off. I don’t remember much about it, which tells me it wasn’t amazing and wasn’t gross. So that’s good I guess.

6th Place (tie)- Jamaica Me Pumpkin by 10 Barrel: 2.8125. Again, I was disappointed by how difficult this beer was to open/ the end result of all our hard work opening the ridiculous bottle. Too syrupy sweet and weird. I don’t like rum in my pumpkin beer, thank you very much.

7th Place- Imperial Pumpkin Porter by Alaskan Brewing: 2.6875. This one tasted burnt to me. I still say that I don’t much like pumpkin porters, and I think this is why. You know when you leave the candle burning in your jack-0-lantern and it starts to burn the pumpkin and it has that really distinct smell? That’s what this tasted like to me, but with the spices added to it.

8th Place- Great Gourds of Fire by Hopworks Urban Brewery: 2.5. This was another beer that added spice, as in spicy spice, and it wasn’t as good as Atomic Pumpkin. Last year this got 2nd place and this is what I wrote, “It was also our first, so perhaps that’s why it scores so well. We’ll never know.” Maybe we do know now.

9th Place- Big Black Jack by Oakshire: 2.444444. Oh, Oakshire, how much do I want to say about you? Last year this beer got 10th place, in 2016 it got 8th, in 2015 it got 4th. What has changed so much since 2015? Well, it might have something to do with Alesong Brewing opening in 2015. Who knows.

10th Place- Hollow Jack by Two Towns Cider: 1.125. Well, this cider didn’t hit the mark at all. Way too syrupy sweet. While it had more of a pumpkin flavor than our other cider, it was hard to drink.

That’s it! Thanks for reading along again this year. I love this tradition with our friends, and I love taking the time the next day to write up all our thoughts. I didn’t realize, though, that I should start keeping tasting notes and quotes as we go to make this job a bit easier the next day. I’m getting too old to rely on my beer soaked memory. See ya next year! Happy pumpkining!

Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2017

Posted by Carolyn on October 16, 2017 2 Comments

The Twelve Pumpkin Beers of 2017.

This was another fun Pumpkin Beer Fest, for sure. This year (like the first two years: 2016 and 2015), was a night of fun, friends, snacks, laughter, and of course, beer. Everyone brought a couple (or several) bottles for everyone to try out. Like last year, some of our friends couldn’t make it, and we missed them, but the show must go on. Also, I was excited to have my college roommate with us this year!

We used our traditional scoring rubric.

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

There are always discussions about how to rate a beer when it’s good, but not too pumpkin-y. We usually leave that up to the rater to decide, personally. Without further ado…. here are our results. Cheers!

1st Place: Night Owl, Elysian Brewing Company 4.07. Once again, Elysian seems to have the right formula for a delicious pumpkin beer. This one had just the right blend of pumpkin spice. It wasn’t syrupy or too spicy or bitter. Smooth, perfectly spiced, and wonderful.

2nd Place (tie): Great Gourds of Fire, Hopworks Urban Brewing 3.93. This one had a bit of a kick at the end. It is brewed with the typical pumpkin spices, but also with some actual spice. I didn’t really like that about this one, but the pumpkin spice was lovely, and it was a good, solid beer. It was also our first, so perhaps that’s why it scores so well. We’ll never know.

2nd Place (tie): Evan’s friend Evyn’s homebrew 3.93. This was perfectly smooth and easy to drink. It had some good pumpkinness in it and it was delicious. Good pumpkin beer, Evyn.

3rd Place: Pumpkin Pedaler, Stormbreaker Brewing 3.86. I don’t remember this one. I didn’t even remember to put this on the blog originally. I’ve edited the post to add it, but I can’t say anything about it. But it scored pretty well, so it must be good!

4th Place: The Great Pumpkin, Elysian Brewing Company 3.79. This was 2015’s winner, and still one of my favorites. This one tastes like pumpkin pie, but in a really good way. I still love this one.

5th Place: Pumpkin Bier, pFriem 3.71. This was last year’s winner and it was delicious this year, too. I think I scored it lower because I didn’t get the pumpkin spice out of this one like I wanted to. It was a delicious, easy to drink beer, but, to me, it just tasted like a delicious beer. I wanted more pumpkin. Looking back at last year, I wrote that it had a gingery finish. I didn’t get that this year.

6th Place: Imperial Pumpkin Porter, Epic Brewing 3.79. I don’t really like porters, or really pumpkin in porters. I think I like my pumpkin in lighter beers so the spices dance around, instead of just sitting there in the darkness. This was my favorite of the dark pumpkin beers, though.

7th Place: Pumpkin Smash, Cascade 3.14. Now, I love me a good sour and I love me a good pumpkin beer. But, for some reason, these just didn’t add up for me. I mean, when I was drinking it, I understood that it was good. I understood that it was delicious. I understood that it was clever and fun. But, I just couldn’t picture myself drinking much more than the taster. Maybe because I think of sours in the summer, at the pool, and I think of pumpkin beers in autumn, warm and cozy. Call me crazy.

8th Place: Pumpkin Patch Ale, Rogue 3.07. I actually really liked this one. It was good. Jesse thought it tasted too much like actual pumpkins – he compared it to pumpkins rotting in a field. I didn’t really taste that, but you know, to each their own.

9th Place: Jamaican Me Pumpkin, 10Barrel 2.29. Besides having a really dumb name and being ridiculously hard to open, this beer just wasn’t much good. It was syrupy and too sweet.

10th Place: Big Black Jack, Oakshire 2.5. This porter just tasted burned. I don’t know if it’s the chocolate porter part of it, but it didn’t sit well.

11th Place: Pinchy Jeek Barl, Anderson Valley 1.43. This one was bad. It is aged in bourbon barrels and it just tasted like gross bourbon. Pumpkin beer or bourbon- pick one, ya know?

That’s all! There you have it! Our scientific, fool-proof list of which pumpkin beers to drink this year.

Also, I think it’s interesting that we were all in a more middle of the road mood this year. We usually have a much larger spread of ratings. It would be interesting to look back and see what was going on in the world when we did these ratings. Last year, everything was all about the campaign and so divided and everyone had strong opinions on everything. The first year (when we were all more innocent – in many ways), there were five beers that scored over 4 points – we were more hopeful and happy and generous. This year we’re just jaded and not willing to commit to things being good OR bad. Or something. I’m obviously not a sociologist or a beer expert, so don’t take my word for any of this.

Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2016

Posted by Carolyn on October 17, 2016 1 Comment

We had our Second Annual Pumpkin Beer Fest this past weekend. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to have her own fest, and two of our best friends couldn’t make it over from Bend to join in the festivities. We went on without them… it wasn’t the same but we did the best we could.

Just like last year we all brought a couple bottles of Pumpkin Beer to share and judge and rate. Our rating scale was this:

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

Here are the results!

1. pFriem Pumpkin Bier 4.08333333. This was a really good beer. It had a really spicy finish, like fresh ginger. It was tasty and easy to drink. It had the perfect blend of pumpkin, spices, and beer. Good stuff here.

2. Elysian The Great Pumpkin 4.0 This was our winner last year, and it was impressive again! Elysian really knows how to make a good pumpkin beer. This was smooth and perfectly pumpkiny. Just exactly what I’d expect.

3. Elysian Punkuccino 3.75 I didn’t expect to like this, because I don’t usually like coffee beers that much, and this was certainly strong on the coffee. It was so smooth, and the coffee was well balanced with the sweetness of the pumpkin and the spiciness of the spices.

4. Elysian Night Owl 3.75 This one might be my personal favorite. I love this one. It is smooth and not bitter at all. Lots of spices and 7 pounds of pumpkin per barrel – which is roughly 7 pounds of pumpkin – which sounds like a lot!

5. New Belgium Pumpkick 3.666 Just like last year, we started and finished with the same beer. This score came from our first tasting of this one. This is another one of my favorites. I love the lemongrass and cranberry flavors that come through. It really just tastes like autumn to me.

6. Uinta Funk’n Patch 3.5 I liked this one a lot. It was more sour than the rest. It is brewed with Brett which made it a little funky – in a good way. It was unique and light and I liked it. It makes me want to try more beers with Brett.

7. New Belgium Pumpkick 3.333 This was the second time we tried Pumpkick, at the end of the tasting when we were feeling a little different than we were in the beginning. I like to repeat the first beer in the end to prove the efficacy of our palates and our rating system. The scores were close enough that I would consider this to be a scientific and respectable system.

8. Oakshire Big Black Jack 2.666 I always feel so bad when we score a Eugene beer so poorly. This is one of those that just doesn’t quite work for me. The chocolate didn’t meld well with the pumpkin to me. Sad.

9. Epic Imperial Pumpkin Porter 2.333 This one was disappointing because it just tasted like porter. No pumpkin or spice flavors at all.

10. Laurelwood Pumpkin Ale 1.91666 I don’t remember anything about this one. Maybe that’s good, judging by the score we gave it.

We also sampled our own pumpkin brown ale. We didn’t want to score it because people would probably lie and say it was amazing, or lie and say it was horrible, but everyone really liked it. It’s pretty good, if I do say so myself.

A Day in the Life – October 6, 2016

Posted by Carolyn on October 10, 2016 1 Comment

8:23 – I want to remember these girls and the cuddles in the mornings. Now that they share a room, it’s more likely that they will stay in their beds, or at least their room, and chat and play before they come into our room. We do all, usually, end up in bed together for a few minutes.

8:47 – I want to remember how the girls love to play with new things. They made this goo the night before at a Science Fair at the university and were really excited to play with it first thing in the morning.

8:56 – I want to remember this view, with the gorgeous yellow birch, the flaming red dogwood, the landscaping growing up and getting bigger. The junky car that’s been parked across the street for a few months, I’m happy to forget that, if only it would go away.

9:03 – I want to remember how great it feels to wake up to a mostly clean kitchen. I never want to do it at night, but it’s always worth it in the morning.

9:08 – I want to remember these autumn breakfasts. Oatmeal with frozen blueberries for them, tea with orange oil for me.

9:14 – I want to remember how Harriet says “hot cococo” for hot chocolate. I don’t want to remember how she threw a huge fit because I gave it to her in the wrong cup – I’ll just choose to remember that she eventually accepted the cococo in the Santa mug (the one she usually wants).

9:25 – I want to remember that this was not a normal day for us. My To Do List isn’t usually a bunch of chores around the house. We usually actually leave the house. I don’t usually spend the entire day cleaning the house. I do want to remember how good it feels to clean up our messes and be able to have such a wonderful home to take care of. I also want to remember how using the essential oils to clean the house makes it all so much more fun.

9:48 – I want to remember how the girls are actually eager to help me these days. Harriet loves to help me cook dinner. Alma likes to help with the dishes, dusting, and sweeping. I’m working on giving them daily and weekly chores.

9:52 – I want to remember these eggs and these chickens. I love that my chores include getting eggs, taking out food scraps, and giving them water.

10:07 – I want to remember the corner of our kitchen where things build up. Art projects from school, mail that needs attention, empty shoe boxes. These are the things that show our busy existence. I especially love when this corner of our kitchen gets sorted and put where it all goes. That was my job this day.

10:12 – I want to remember how these girls play together. They use their imaginations and really work well together. They used these boxes as houses, horse stalls, tunnels, who knows what else. I also want to remember Harriet’s love for her new boots and her tutu.

10:25 – I want to remember the imaginations in these girls. They had a full conversation between these two candlesticks.

10:31 – I want to remember these candlelit meals and snacks. Candles, while eating, are pure magic.

10:49 – I want to remember the love and care that goes into keeping a house. These wood floors shine thanks to me and my care for them. And essential oils.

11:56 – I want to remember these plates and the little hands that made them. I want to remember these peanut butter sandwiches – honey for Harriet, homemade strawberry jam for me and Alma.

12:59 – I want to remember all the sewing. I haven’t sewn in a couple months, so it feels great to get back to it. I finished Alma’s witch dress, fixed my sweater, and got started on Harriet’s much needed big bed quilt. I love giving my girls quilts so they can always be wrapped up in my love – and a tangible representation of that love.

2:03 – I want to remember how much I love Christmas and how much I love making good things for our family. These blend perfectly when I use Christmas Spirit oil (Orange, Cinnamon, Spruce) in my homemade hand soap.

3:13 – I want to remember how Harriet is the queen of the pout. She will sit down and pout, or just stand in the middle of the room and pout. Here, Alma is her horse who ran away. The pout went away once the horse came back.

3:20 – I want to remember these colors and snacks. Pink and honey for Harriet. Blue and jam for Alma.

3:52 – I want to remember these slow, cloudy days when I don’t get around to taking my shower until well into the afternoon. And my old Cal Young tie dye t-shirt that I use for my hair after my showers.

4:15 – I want to remember these days of forts, and make believe, and reading corners.

5:31 – I want to remember how our friends came over, bringing us a fake Christmas gift for an upcoming music video, and how it was fun to wish them Merry Christmas in October. I also want to remember how they all came inside and hung around for a little bit. Surprise guests and good conversations fill my bucket in a big way. Even if I forget to take any photos. Especially when I forget to take any photos.

6:11 – I want to remember this season and the comfort food that it brings. This was a baked potato bar, using lots of things we happened to have on hand.

6:18 – I want to remember “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest; let this food to us be blessed. Amen,” and how Alma and Harriet say “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest; let this family to us be blessed. Allmen.”

6:49 – I want to remember the chaos that falls at bedtime. It is a constant battle to get them going in the right direction to get their teeth brushed, jammies on, and everything else that needs to be done when there are so many other things that they’d rather be doing.

7:03 – I want to remember the calm that settles when we’re all in our bed, reading a story before they head to their own beds. A few final cuddles and they race to their room.

7:04 – I want to remember how the girls need just a little bit more chaos before they can settle into their beds and eventually fall asleep.

I want to remember the time that Jesse and I get after the kids are in bed. We watch shows, get stuff done, clean up a little, read books, and eventually fall asleep ourselves.

Other Days In The Life:
May 12, 2015
September 9, 2015
November 11, 2015
January 3, 2016

Thanksgiving in the Mountains

Posted by Carolyn on December 1, 2015 2 Comments

First of all, please excuse how quiet andthenthey has been. I had grand plans to write a few blogs while we were away for Thanksgiving, but I dropped my phone in the toilet right when we got to our house. It spent the whole weekend in a big bowl of rice, and thankfully has made an almost full recovery.

Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend up at Sunriver for Thanksgiving with my Dad and Step-Mom and her brother and family. We went up to the mountains on Wednesday, and drove on packed snow from before Willamette Pass all the way to Sunriver. I’ve never seen that much snow, for so long. Luckily, we got to do the drive during the day, so it was sunny and clear.

We got to the house in time to play in the snow a little bit before dark. Alma loved it and would have stayed outside longer, despite her cold, wet fingers and legs. The promise of the big bathtub was the only thing that could lure her inside.

The next morning, Thanksgiving, we went to visit our great friends, the Gosses, in their new home in Bend. It was another snowy, beautiful drive. It was fun to finally get to see their house, and to get to see them!

The rest of Thanksgiving was spent playing in the snow, cooking dinner, and eating. I made the turkey this year, and everyone added something to the table. It was wonderful.

On Friday we braved the below freezing temperatures and went to the High Desert Museum. I love this place so much. It holds so many memories of my childhood. The otters (who weren’t on display), the indoor scenes of the West, the old settler’s cabin and sawmill. It’s all there, all the same, and all incredible. I loved sharing it with the girls. Plus, it was amazingly beautiful in the snow.

Alma took this photo of me and Jesse.

We went back to the house to watch the Civil War and learn how to knit. Harriet has such a sweet relationship with my dad. He’s certainly one of her favorite people. I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

Then, we tried to go to the tree lighting. It was just too cold, and we left before Santa got there and the lights were turned on. It was still fun, and Alma got to talk to Rudolph and Frosty. Here’s my favorite exchange:

Alma: Rudolph, I saw your friends being mean to you!
Rudolph: *nod*
Alma: Do they let you play with them now?
Rudolph: *nod*

It was sweet to see her so concerned for Rudolph. She has a sweet heart in her, that’s for sure.

Halloween 2015 Was Rainy

Posted by Carolyn on November 3, 2015 Leave a Comment

The title says it all. Halloween was rainy. It didn’t stop us, though! We headed out with Jane, Rory, Poppy, and Rachel.

This was the third year we’ve spent Halloween with this crew. I hope we it was the third out of infinity. It will be fun when we go trick or treating with Rory’s kids (because obviously he will marry one of our girls and Rory’s kids will, in turn, be our grandchildren… anyway…).

Before we went trick or treating Alma said to Rachel, “We will go trick or treating, then we will come home and Mommy will take a picture of you tickling Harriet.” This girl has such an amazing memory. It blows my mind sometimes. I mean, maybe she had recently seen this photo from three years ago:

Or this photo from two years ago:

But we certainly hadn’t talked about how Rachel loves to recreate this photo. I love seeing how Alma’s and Harriet’s minds work and grow and learn.

So, we had Rachel over for dinner, then we grabbing umbrellas, boots and glowsticks and were out for about an hour. We were soaked. We had buckets full of candy. It was great.

We came home and warmed up.

And, of course, Rachel tickled Harriet:

The one thing I didn’t realize is that in the first two photos, you can see Alma’s little feet walking in the corner of the frame. We’ll have to make sure to include that in future years.

Pumpkin Beer Fest, 2015

Posted by Carolyn on October 26, 2015 4 Comments

This past weekend, we had six of our very best friends over for a Pumpkin Beer Festival. We all provided a couple pumpkin beers, and we had a taste test. Jesse bought a bunch of snacks, the kids were all put to bed, and we all got to tasting.

We had a 5 point rating system, but we could award half points if necessary (so really a 10 point rating system, but who’s counting). As the night wore on, we discussed that it should have been a more specific scale, but it is what it is. Next year, we’ll adopt the following scoring guide:

5 points: I would drink more of this RIGHT NOW, and never want to drink anything else.
4 points: I would totally drink this again and again.
3 points: I would drink this if someone offered it to me, but probably wouldn’t buy it.
2 points: Would drink if the only choices were this and Bud.
1 point: Nope. Not ever again.

But, like I said, we didn’t use this scale, so each of us had our own individual scale, which, I suppose, would still provide accurate results, as long as each of us stuck to our own individual scale.

Here was our process:

Pour each person a taste of one beer.
Drink taste of beer.
Score beer.
Average scores.
Repeat.

As it turned out, we had two of the first beer we tried, so we went back to it in the end to ensure accuracy (given the fact that beer tasting tends to alter states of being, the more beer is tasted). This will prove to you the efficacy of our process, given the following results.

The Great Pumpkin by Elysian Brewing. Score: 4.714. This was by far our favorite beer. Elysian is doing something right with all their pumpkin beers. They should be, since they make so many of them. The pumpkin-ness was perfect, and it was easy to drink with smooth flavors and an excellent aftertaste.
Pumpkick by New Belgium. Score: 4.357. This was the first pumpkin beer that I ever liked. As a wise beer expert once said, “It tastes like Thanksgiving in a bottle.” Yes, folks, truer words were never spoken. I love the hint of cranberry, the undertones of lemongrass. This is a pumpkin beer for the people.
Pumpkin Patch Ale by Rogue. Score: 4.285714. The thing I liked most about this beer was the almost champagne-like fizziness. I also like that it’s from Oregon, making it the first of our local beers to make the list. Third place isn’t a bad finish for our beer loving state.
Big Black Jack by Oakshire. Score: 4.0714. The first Eugene beer on the list! I’ve always loved Oakshire, so I’m happy to see it doing so well on our highly prestigious Pumpkin Beer Fest List. Jesse describes this beer as “a walk down a dark, shadowy trail in the forest.” Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Punkin Ale by Dogfishhead. Score: 4.000. This was one of my favorites. It was easy to drink, and had a lovely pumpkin-ness. Jesse didn’t like it at all, but I think it’s because he had just had a handful of sour-cream and onion corn puffs (not well known as being a palate cleanser). I also really liked the label, but that didn’t factor into my scoring.
America’s Original Pumpkin Ale by Buffalo Bill’s. Score: 3.857142. This beer claims to be the original pumpkin beer (as seen in the name), and that might be true, but I would bet that some home-brewers tried it first. This was certainly the most pumpkin-pie tasting beer of the bunch. The pumpkin was very strong, but not unpleasant.
Squash Buckler by Fort George Brewery. Score: 3.5714. This was our first beer, when our palates were clean, our blood was pure, our anticipation high. It was good, but not amazing. This beer didn’t taste like pumpkin at all, oddly.
Squash Buckler by Fort George Brewery. Score: 3.07142515. This was our last beer, when our palates were buzzing, our blood was pumping, our anticipation satiated. It was still good, but still not amazing. But, our rating system was proved successful to within a half a point.
Pumpkinhead by Shipyard. Score: 2.500. Neither Jesse, nor I, can remember anything specific about this beer, so that’s a pretty good description for why it’s scored to low.02
Imperial Pumpkin Sleigh’r by Ninkasi Brewing. Score: 1.280. A disappointing finish for another Eugene beer. This was the worst beer by a landslide. Just look at that score. More than a whole point lower than the number nine beer. It didn’t taste good, and we were a bit offended by the feeling that it was a bit of a cop-out. You can’t just add pumpkin to your winter seasonal and expect people to be amazed.

There you have it, folks. What do you think of our rankings? If you hold your own Pumpkin Beer Fest, let me know how your ranking shape up!

30 Days Hath September – Whole30 Reflections

Posted by Carolyn on September 30, 2015 1 Comment

So, it’s September 30th. this means a lot of things.

October is tomorrow, and Autumn is really, truly here. I can really see this on my walks. The trees are beautiful. There’s a chill in the air. The students are back on campus. I’m drinking hot tea instead of iced.

It also means we’ve technically made it to the end of our first Whole30. I say technically, because it has now been 30 days. But, really, it’s just the beginning (and not really an ending). It was a great experience, and we learned a lot about food, nutrition, our bodies, and what we’re capable of. I lost six pounds in the 3 1/2 weeks, Jesse lost 14).

This past weekend, we had a couple birthday parties to attend, so we decided to relax the rules since we were almost done. I ended up having a tiny portion of Yumm (locals will know that this means beans, brown rice, veggies and Yumm sauce). I instantly – I mean instantly – got a stomach ache and it became a gut bomb for the rest of the day. I was bloated and uncomfortable. Jesse got instant heartburn. Now, I always feel like Yumm is a healthy option, and I still think that it is (way better than fried foods, greasy meat, etc), so this surprised me. I realized that ‘healthy’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘good for you.’ I’m not sure what it was that wasn’t good for me, but with the bloating and discomfort, I’m going to guess it was the beans. Suffice it to say, after a day of discomfort, I went back to the Whole30 way of eating for the rest of the weekend.

On Monday I wanted to try something else, so I got one of my favorite pumpkin muffins from a local bakery. I figured I had done really well, and deserved a treat on my walk. I bought it, started eating it, anticipating it to be the best thing I had ever eaten. I ate about half of the muffin, and was full and done. I didn’t feel gross like on Saturday, but I just realized it wasn’t worth it, so I didn’t finish it. I didn’t get any headaches or pains, so I’m going to assume that grains are okay for me to eat.

Since then, I’ve been back on the Whole30 plan. From here on out, I’m going to stick to it, but not strictly. I mean, if there’s something that looks good, and isn’t too unhealthy, I’ll have some of it. During this past month, I’ve learned ways to snack healthier, choosing an apple or a few banana chips. I’ve learned that I don’t need as much food as I previously thought. I feel like I’ve slayed my sugar-beast. At the parties this weekend, I could have had cupcakes, but didn’t, and truthfully, I didn’t really miss them.

I know that the Whole30 plan is crazy restrictive and overwhelming. I get it. There were days that were really difficult. There were things I really wanted to eat. But, I kept going. It’s easier than counting calories or points. It isn’t just some fad diet that has crazy things like tons of grapefruits or cabbage soup. It really felt like everything I put in my body had a purpose and was making me feel healthier and more energetic. I learned that a microwaved apple with cinnamon and nutmeg is a wonderful dessert, but that I didn’t always even need to have dessert. I learned that if I was feeling a slump, some tea or a handful of cashews would do the trick.

Most of all, I learned that I’m strong. My will is strong. My body is strong. Today, on my walk, I walked through a beautiful oak grove and couldn’t help taking a selfie. When I looked at the photo on my phone, I thought I looked great. My hair is just in a braid, and I’m not wearing makeup, but I still thought I looked great. I know it’s only six pounds, but I feel like my face looks thinner. And my skin is clearer, my hair is shinier, my eyes are brighter. Usually, I’ll take 100 selfies and kind of like one of them. Today I took about 20, and liked 10 of them. I know it sounds silly, but to me, that is strength.

Whole30 – Halfway Point Reflections

Posted by Carolyn on September 16, 2015 1 Comment

Jesse and I, along with some friends, have embarked upon a Whole30 journey. I’ve been interested in Whole30 for a while, and when Elise did it, I decided to finally give it a try. I mentioned it to Jesse, fully expecting him to poo poo the idea, but he was on board. We planned to do it for September for a few reasons, mostly because we wouldn’t be missing any of the fun food holidays, and it’s a perfect time with the feeling of fresh starts that accompany Autumn.

The first few days were rough, I’m not going to lie. I had headaches, and basically felt incredibly hungover. I was grumpy and mean and unhappy. It was crazy to me that going without certain foods was making me feel so bad. It wasn’t that I missed the foods – it was that my body seemed to be rebelling against the new diet. How had I become so addicted to such crap? It really felt like I was going through withdrawals (though, I must admit that I don’t really know what that feels like…).

By the third or fourth day, I was feeling much better. I was letting myself eat whenever I felt hungry, trying to keep the temptations to a minimum. I figured that if I was never super hungry, I would never crave the things I couldn’t have.

We have been cooking lots of great recipes, and I don’t have any complaints about what we’re eating. I don’t even miss the things that are forbidden. Sure, sometimes I think that some chèvre or blue cheese would taste good, but everything is good and tasty enough without it.

I thought I would miss bread, but it’s the last thing I miss. I realized that the bread isn’t what makes a sandwich taste good. I’ve been eating tuna on salad and it’s just as good as on bread. No, it’s better. Last night we had people over for dinner and served bread with this amazing shepherd’s pie recipe. I looked around the table and realized I wasn’t jealous of the people eating bread. It just isn’t necessary.

One of the very best things I’ve learned is how to make my own mayonnaise. It’s seriously so amazingly good, I’ll never go back. It’s especially good knowing that the egg used to make it is under a day old. I usually go out, grab an egg directly from the coop and make the mayo that way. It has to be room temperature, so it’s perfect, and oh so fresh!

For the first week, I was snacking more, trying to keep the hangry away. I would eat fruit, almond butter, and Lara bars almost every day. Now, into my third week, I’ve noticed that I don’t need to snack as much. If I need something, I grab an apple – another great reason to do Whole30 in September.

As of right now, I’m planning on starting to add back foods on October 1st. I’m going to start with pumpkin beer. Beyond that, I think I’ll wait until October 8th to add anything else back in (that’s when most of our friends will be done with their 30 days). I’ll start with cheeses and see how I feel. Then probably peas and other legumes. Those are the only things I really feel like I miss, so I might just stop there for another 30 days or so.

If you’re thinking of trying Whole30 for yourself, I say go for it. Give it at least a week before you even start to decide if you’ll continue. The first days are hard, but worth it.

Having risen from the first week fog, Jesse put together some tips for our group that I’m going to share here, too:

I’ve been thinking of what I would do differently if we did this again…so I thought I’d share!

First off make/buy your sauces before you start, including:
-Mayo
-Ketchup/bbq sauce substitute
-Salad dressing
-Ranch

Make a plan for lunches when you won’t have leftovers. I often went out to eat when I didn’t bring something from home and this has been very difficult to find somewhere that has diet-approved stuff. Probably having a steady supply of salad stuff and protein on hand is a good place to start.

Figure out a good snack food. For us it’s mixed nuts (and I throw in raisins for dessert). Also have a decent supply of Lara bars for the emergencies (they’re expensive and pretty processed, but when it’s that or hangriness…)

Screw sticking to the “Whole30” only stuff! I’m eating fruit dammit! And I’m having a glass of apple juice when I want one! Even with a few raisins now and then, it’s still better than a bowl of ice cream.

To save you some time, I’ve looked at all the labels for some things and found these to be good:
-Sweet Creek Dill Pickles (Literally almost the only brand out of dozens)
-Applewood hot dogs (not that hot dogs should be considered healthy in any sense)
-Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

Coffee. Have plenty on hand and make sure it’s the good stuff that you don’t need to cut with cream and sugar. If you’re thinking of giving it up, wait. I tried the first day and was miserable, one thing at a time here folks.

Try not to think of the replacement things that you find as the originals. Any bbq sauce you make WILL NOT be as good as Stubb’s…it just won’t…BUT it still can be good if you just think of it as a sauce you put on your pulled pork, not a bbq sauce.

Try to limit going out or going to other people’s houses (if they aren’t doing the diet as well) for the first week. Watching Alma and Harriet eat corn on the cob, eat chips and salsa, and have dessert was tough, I can’t lie.

That’s all I can think of for now…I think I’ve already lost about three pounds of brain matter on this diet.

These are a couple of our Whole30 meals… see, not too shabby! Chicken nuggets with almond crust (way better than traditional!), sweet potato fries, broccoli and homemade ketchup and mayo. Smoked pulled pork, sweet potato slider ‘buns,’ green beans, coleslaw. Also, I don’t think I’ll ever figure out how to photograph food.

Apple Picking, Autumn 2015

Posted by Carolyn on September 15, 2015 Leave a Comment

One of our play group’s annual traditions is to go apple picking in September. We go to my favorite orchards and spend the morning picking apples, playing with the farm stuff, tasting cider, feeding the goats, and welcoming Autumn.

As is evidenced by this gif, this year was fun. Thanks Hannah (from The Lighthearted Life of HMV) for being so lighthearted and fun!

This year was also warmer than it should have been if you ask me. Last year was sort of drizzly and that was much more Autumnal. I love this event because it assures us that Autumn is, in fact, coming. Even when it’s 80 degrees and the day before was over 90, the apples on the trees are a promise of cooler weather, and darker skies. And nothing beats biting into a crisp, juicy apple picked directly off a tree in a century old orchard. I can pretend that there’s a crisp breeze blowing down the rows of trees, if only for a moment.

My camera was doing strange things, and it turns out that the only photos that were in focus (or mostly in focus, anyway) were of Alma, Harriet, Rory, and Poppy. I swear that there were lots of other people there! In fact, I think it was one of the best turn outs we’ve had at a playgroup lately – nine out of the ten families! As I’ve said many times before, I love our little tribe of families in this group, and all our traditions. Next month is our 4th Annual Pumpkin Patch trip, a perennial favorite!

This last photo cracks me up. “Ummm… mom, why are you putting us in boxes?”

Forgive me, children, Autumn is coming. I can make no excuses for my silly ideas. You will just have to get used to it.

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