It is Thanksgiving week, which informally marks the end of fall and the start of winter.
As a former Wellingtonian I'm not used to having four defined seasons, each with their own marketing spin and product line. I'm used to waiting around for that terrifying week in April when summer becomes winter in the space of a day or two.
I've spent most of the season ignoring the fall hype, but in a fit of regret and curiosity spent the last week trying to catch up.
"Fall" is a big deal in New England. In late September, the leaves begin to turn and the tourism industry begins to explode. The leaves are nice for a few minutes and great to have as a backdrop to the city for a month or two. But they fail to hold my attention.
After the leaves begin to turn, and as Halloween approaches pumpkins begin appearing on porches everywhere.
Simultaneously pumpkin spice everythings and special fall items begin showing up in every store.
I ignored this marketing hype initially. But at the last minute, in the dying burst of fall, I felt that just maybe engaging myself with these fall-flavours might help me start appreciating the season a little more.
My first stop was Dunkin' Donuts. Not out of any preference, but because LP and I had a drive to make and it is at the end of our street.
Dunkin' Donuts sells three-star donuts, and two-star coffee, in outlets with the décor of a high-school cafeteria. That aside, I do love going there.
Dunkins' signature fall items were its fall harvest and pumpkin donuts and its hot apple cider. The fall harvest really just transpired to be a plain donut with red, sugary icing and hundreds and thousands on the top.
"If I close my eyes as I eat this, I could really be eating anything," LP said. She was right. There was nothing seasonal about it.
The pumpkin donut was a bit more memorable. It had a distinct flavour and a less generic donut texture.
As someone who grew up loathing the pumpkin as an abhorrent, vile thing good only for ruining roast dinners, the "pumpkin" obsession in the USA is confusing. Pumpkin, especially pumpkin pie, has little to do with pumpkin flavour. The taste is dictated by what are referred to as the pumpkin spices: allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pumpkin is merely the base material. It lends its consistency but not its taste.
Which seems a bit of a misnomer to me.
I came back a day later for the apple cider, and drank it on my walk to school. It was like drinking hot apple juice. Not the good, farm grown and freshly made stuff either. It was a little like someone had put Fresh Up in the microwave.
My next port of call was at Starbucks for its infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte. This drink goes on sale in early September and is just sold for just the fall months. It is a drink that inspires devotion in the USA: Facebook groups call for its year-round availability and CEO's hype its popularity in earning reports.
I took mine to go, indulging myself in a little whipped cream on the top for extra seasonal enjoyment. It was a beautiful, crisp fall morning - the sort where the air feels so alive that you could almost grab it and crumble it in your hands. The trees that line the road through Boston University were a burning shade of red. Maybe this was it? Maybe I was having my first transcendental fall moment? I drank it in, cupping my drink with two hands, a little like how I imagine Oliver Twist consumes soup. It was sweet, yes, but the flavour of the spices and the coffee came nicely through the whipped cream.
This was magical. But...
Less than quarter of an hour later I felt woozy, sick to my core and a little dizzy. For all that promise, the pumpkin spice latte is a high that fades quickly. I'd suggest consuming just a thimble.
Peets Coffee was the next batter up. Peets is a cross-country coffee chain in the USA that has managed to offset itself against Starbucks as being a little less corporate and a bit more down-home, all the while still being a mass-market, mass-produced chain.
Peets' pumpkin-spice effort had a tough road to conquer after the trauma of my Starbucks' over-indulgence. Peets did a great job of it though. No whipped cream was offered and the sugar level was dialed right back, placing just the right emphasis on the mixture of coffee and cinnamon flavours.
My last effort to engage with these fall flavours, coffee dosed with (non-alcoholic) eggnog, has been keeping me company as I write this out at my desk on this Sunday morning.
Eggnog, which is made with milk or cream, sugar, eggs and booze if you're up for it, goes on sale in the fall. It does cross over into the winter months, not like the pumpkin stuff. LP gets more excited about this than anything and applies it liberally in her morning coffee.
I just pored a second cup of coffee, and left the eggnog out this time. I'm a black coffee guy, so maybe I was not inclined towards it from the start. But it tasted a little like sweetening my coffee with custard.
It's going to be winter in a week or two. And such is the parlance of this country I can sense whole new marketing campaigns starting to move up a gear.
Such ingrained seasonal tradition is not a big thing in New Zealand. I couldn't think of one that was shared across much of the country. (Summer barbecues don't count.)
I know we're moving in the opposite directions seasonally, but what are some of your favourite seasonal activities?
And for any New Zealanders abroad in the USA, how have you adapted to fall madness?
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One of the things which makes it hard to have 'seasonal' food here in NZ, is that a lot of the images and propaganda about christmas is northern hemispheric. We are indoctrinated that roast turkey, heavy christmas pudding, and hearty, warming, comfort food is a 'proper' christmas. Whereas a BBQ with salads and pavlova is much more practical and seasonal!
As for 'seasonal' activities, we always try to go berry-picking in between xmas and new years, when the berry places have pick-your-own.
Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite holidays. Even in cal, you notice the fall chill in the evenings, and the beaches in winter take on a different feel at sunrise/ sunset.
No pressure of gift giving, it's just friends and family getting together to eat, drink, hang out and watch football. Always cool when the kids come home for TG too. go out to bkfst on the weekends, have a BBQ Sunday..etc. Very enjoyable.
Couple of times in the past we've had visitors from nz during TG and they enjoy all the traditional stuff and razzmatazz including playing touch football while waiting for turkey...
All in all, one of America's better ideas. Even better with the mighty forty niners in full cry.
It is interesting how the weather sticks to a set pattern over here. I think spring is the only season New Zealand really does properly. I'm really not a summer person so I quite like fall for bringing in temperatures I can handle. But only for a few moments until all the roads and footpaths are covered in a thick layer of rotting leaves. I like winter best.
It is true how they always seem to find some reason to sell themed lollies over here, and never a break in between! I think I had a pumpkin spiced muffin one day. I think it was pretty good. Eggnog is good with rum in it! I don't think I would actually pay for it though. I guess the best way to handle the "fall madness" is to not go into large supermarkets and chain-coffee shops, at least I think that is how I have managed to avoid it this year. And probably avoiding all sources of advertising is necessary too
I used to work with a lady who had lived in the states for a few years, and one day she brought in a home made sweet potato pie. Tasted mostly of sugar, and spiced kumara, but I hoed in regardless. Boy did I feel ill later that day.
I'm living in Brisbane and around halloween I was really surprised to see those big orange carving pumpkins in the supermarket, cos one never sees pumpkins that orange in NZ! For a laugh, I bought a couple, and we finally got around to carving them on Friday. It was actually quite a bit of fun, and I can see us making a yearly thing out of it
When it comes to American food I pretty much love it all (well except for Hawaii's Spam Musabi...) but pumpkin as a sweet treat doesn't work for me. I have never felt more sick than the time I ate Pumpkin Pie. I'll stick to having it roasted with my spuds!
Can't think of anything particularly seasonal that we do. And I avoid the retailers' 'Mid-Winter Xmas' idea like the plague, 'cos the proper holiday comes around fast enough as it is. Though at least all the snow-themed stuff makes sense in winter.
I love pumpkin pie! Decided to try it out one year when I had a surplus of pumpkins from the garden. Now I make it every year, usually around ANZAC Day, which is when pumpkins are in season here.
While I will be interested to try a lot of 'only in America' foods like these, when my bf and I do finally get to visit, the sheer volume and variety of such available does make me worry a bit about what size we'll be on returning home! I've already had the pleasure of meeting Krispy Kreme donuts... :)
I'm eating a piece of pumpkin pie now! I love it but I understand why people can't imagine eating pumpkin as a dessert.
KateJ--I always made my pumpkin pies from scratch. Easiest thing to do and more environmentally friendly. You need sugar pumpkins which they (farmers) don't grow here in NZ. I attempted to make a pie this weekend with the local pumpkin here and it was stringy mess. i held my breath and bought the tinned pumpkin from the American shop in Auckland at $6 a tin. But I must have my pie. I'm making one for morning tea on Thursday and then for our Thanksgiving feast on Friday night.
I also do not understand why pumpkin pie (sweet) is such a weird thing to Kiwis. Pumpkin is found in everything here. And carrot cake is the same concept. Another thing that does not exist here which is not as weird as it sounds is zucchini bread.
James, I think the proper American term for hundreds and thousands is Jimmies, Sprinkles or Shots (depending on what state you come from). There's a topic for you--regional differences in New England.
I miss American apple cider. So good. I like to mull it with the spices and drink it hot. Wish we had it here in NZ. The thing about NZ (well at least Auckland) is that the seasons are not very pronounced since it's so mild here so there doesn't feel like there is much difference between the seasons. The changes are more gradual and less drastic so the urge to have specific foods at certain times of the year is just not there for me.
Have tried pumpkin pie, but not a fan. However, there is a Turkish pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi, which is great. It keeps the pumpkin flavour but with added sugar, cloves and walnuts. Very yum!
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As an American living in NZ, I was never a big fan of pumpkin flavoured coffees but I always loved pumpkin pie. My first year I was living here, I thought I'd surprise my husband's family by making a pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner. However, as much I tried, I couldn't find a key ingredient. I asked my husband where I could find canned pumpkin, and he burst out laughing and handed me the potato masher. (I don't know anyone in the states that makes their pumpkin pie from scratch, and it took a while to find a good recipe for one with an actual whole pumpkin as a starting ingredient. Go 'Merica!)
The pumpkin pie turned out really well (and actually made from scratch), but only my father-in-law could get over the fact that I was serving pumpkin as a dessert.