when the clock struck fall and the world exploded with pumpkin, my kitchen became a center for it all. pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin baked oatmeal, opening night* pumpkin bread. pumpkin pumpkin. pumpkiny pumpkin braised with pumpkin, topped with pumpkin tartare, finished with extra virgin pumpkin.

in my old age i've become staunchly seasonal, to the point where i nearly had a meltdown about realizing that it's now slightly too late to bake a pflaumenkuchen, to the point where i visited upwards of four grocery stores prematurely in search for pumpkin for pumpkin challah on rosh hashanah. {severe and sincere props to my new favorite, the 5th avenue key food... i know.} i love that pumpkin season is here. love it times a trillion. it just makes me want to dance in leg warmers to sufjan stevens near a fireplace all night long.

-yeh!!!

*if you follow me on the twitters, you know that i simply won't shut up about dog days and how it premiered this weekend. it was so amazing to be able to just play through the thing without pausing to adjust lights or intonation or other tech things. so many times i wanted to just burst into tears about some of them arias. but, boy oh boy, was i nervous! still, the idea of playing in a performance that isn't a school performance and that will potentially be reviewed by lotsa people gives me the nervous i-can-only-eat-matzoh-ball-soup tummy. i love it though and i hope that maybe you will see it?