Pumpkin and Spice

One of the sad things about living in a tropical clime is that my favorite season, autumn, is really more of an idea than a reality. Sure, you go shopping right now and there are cute sweaters, cozy looking flannels, corduroy pants and chunky boots... but it's still flip-flop and tank top weather. The leaves (on the palm trees) never change color, the air is never brisk and crisp, and I'm not entirely sure pumpkins can even grow in Florida. While it is finally starting to cool down (just the other day I stepped outside and thought "Oooh! It's nice and cool out!"-- it was 85. No lie.) it's still not really cozy comfort food weather. However, something inside me starts craving fall foods this time of year, regardless of the weather.

Recently, I was really craving cabbage rolls. I'm really fond of cabbage rolls- whether meat or veggie filled, I love the savory filling, the sweet and tangy tomato sauce and the soft cabbage. What I am not fond of is rolling up cabbage rolls. There are some foods I'm willing to fuss around with, but I'd rather not spend that much time making little pockets of cabbage. And, since I don't have a Polish grandma to tell me I'm not doing things right, I decided this time around to make myself a cabbage casserole.

Lately, I've been doing a bit of baking-for-cash, with cinnamon buns being a re-occuring theme. I don't eat many cinnamon buns, partially because that is waaaaaay too much sugar for me as a breakfast food (I'm more of a salty foods for breakfast kind of girl- I prefer sweets as, say, an afternoon snack) and partially because I am really picky about how I like them. I want them to be soft- like just barely baked soft. I want a thick slop of gooey icing on top- preferably not cream cheese icing, though I'll take it in a pinch. I do not want nuts or raisins in my cinnamon bun. (Nuts are acceptable to me in sticky buns, though.) And, while most people consider them a sort of gold standard in the cinnamon roll world, I'm kind of ambivalent towards Cinnabon's cinnamon rolls- I mean, they actually meet all my above criteria, but I always feel like I need a nap after eating one. Or, maybe I shouldn't eat the whole freaking thing. Maybe if they came in a smaller size...

Anyway, I digress. What I'm getting at is- I have made a lot of cinnamon buns in the last month. They have been really good. I'm going to get fat if I keep this up.