Pumpkin and Spice

The holidays are rapidly approaching- it's truely the most wonderful time of the year! I love that once you hit October, you get a holiday every month until Valentine's day! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, New Year's, Valentine's Day- it's the best. It makes me feel all Hallmark card squishy inside.

 This time last year, I was in Utah with Sissy, and we spent our Thanksgiving with a co-worker and her family. This year, my parents are coming from Kansas, my brother is coming from Kentucky, and my in-laws and sister-in-law are coming from a couple streets over to our apartment for a big family Thanksgiving. It's going to be my first year hosting the Big Dinner, and I'm a ball of excitement and nerves.

I had a very early morning today, and since I was determined to sleep in as much as possible, I needed a quick breakfast. Good thing I bought those Cliff Bars- the Mint Chocolate one was perfect with my coffee! It was just what I needed to get me going.

Wanna guess what I did at work today?...

Whew! I'm tired! It was a busy day at work- it seems like I didn't do much, because I basically did the same thing all day... rolled out tart crust after tart crust after tart crust! I rolled out "plain" crust, cheese crusts and chocolate crusts. I did get a little break at one point when my crusts were baking, and I made ice cream. Since I just made empty crusts and ice cream, I didn't take pictures. Today we were mostly prepping for two banquets this weekend... And I see bunches of Thanksgiving pie orders in my future. Good thing I got lots of crust rolling practice today!

It's been cooling down a lot- at the beginning of the week, it was getting warm in the afternoon. Now, it's pretty cold all day. The next step is snow- everyone's a little on edge because it isn't yet cold enough for snow. Several of the resorts were planning on opening this week but couldn't because of the lack of snow. It's strange to be in a town where everyone waits with baited breath for that first snow storm- all of our jobs depend on it, really!

The Florida Keys are well known for a lot of things- Jimmy Buffet, Ernest Hemingway, drinking, gorgeous weather, drinking, fabulous fresh seafood and of course... Key Lime Pie! Being a sugar-fiend, I was determined to try as much Key Lime Pie as I could!

Just about every restaurant and bakery in the Keys serves Key Lime Pie, and they all claim to have "the best pie in the Keys!" It would be an impossible task to try every pie in the Keys- I mean, even with the help of Mom and Kyle, I only averaged one slice a day... and I always managed to be full whenever we passed a stand that sold chocolate dipped Key Lime Pie on a stick. Oh, well. I'll have to try that next trip!