Happy Fall, Y'all!

I know- I'm all Paula Dean now, right? I love Paula. I covet Paula. I want to make sweet, sweet pancakes with Paula.

ahem.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I haven't actually fallen off the face of the Earth. Just to West Virginia. I joke, I joke. Seriously, though, we did MOVE to West Virginia a few weeks ago, and before that, we spent a ridiculously huge amount of time and money hunting for a place to live in West Virginia. Why West Virginia? Because it's one of the only states that I mess up EVERY SINGLE TIME I TYPE IT.

Oh - and because hubby FINALLY got a job, and it happens to be in (can you guess?)


.......drumroll please.............

Maryland.

Ha! Almost had you there, didn't I?

Ok, so Maryland is more expensive to live in, so we're in WEST VIR GIN IA. There, I didn't screw it up that time. I know, I know - it's way easier to just type WV - but then the tens of thousands of NON-USA'er fans/followers/stalkers would have NO idea what WV is and would be all "wtf is WV?" so I suffer and type West Virignia. Crap. (see what I mean???)



In any case, it's FALL! I love Fall. I love the smells and sights of Fall. I especially love the foods of Fall. Squash & apples - apples & squash. Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, you'll see squash & apples for sale. Here in West VIR GIN IA, they have apple orchards and peach orchards seemingly on every corner (well - mostly). We visited a 1,000 acre farm this past weekend, and we were AMAZED at all that they had to offer. I swear, they grow every fruit possible. We picked our own raspberries - IN SEPTEMBER! We picked our own GRAPES! (We didn't like the grapes though - blech!) We did not, however, pick our own apples. For some odd reason, that wasn't an option. The website says their apple season starts next week
end, and so maybe then we'll go back and get our OWN apples.





I've NEVER had fresh raspberries that tasted this good, I literally ate them off the plant. Never! The ones I've bought in the market have always been too sour/bitter. These things - these little baby bundles of berry goodness - I could have just eaten them all - every single one!

We wound up picking 2 pints of berries - which they charge by the pound for, and wound up spending $3.47! In the market, we'd have spent about $10 for them!

Ok, so enough about the raspberries, I know. But still!


I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm back - I've already got a new post brewing in my head for a recipe celebrating Fall, too! I'll have that up soon. In the meantime,