Start placing orders...

There are two things that to me, mean that the holiday season is upon us. The first being when Starbucks rolls out the "Pumpkin Spice Latte." Never really been a fan of flavored coffee but pumpkin is where I make an exception. And we all know what the Pumpkin Latte means, don't we? In just a few short weeks, the "Gingerbread Latte" and all it's spiciness will become at least a semi-weekly treat for me.

The second, is when Safeway stocks the winter squash section with pumpkin pie pumpkins, or "sugar babies" as they are sometimes referred. I have been told that my pies are quite good and people can't seem to get enough of them. This probably has something to do with the fact that I would never dream of using a can of pumpkin filling...and that I lace them with crack cocaine. Part of me wants to come clean and tell you that it is really not any harder to make one from fresh pumpkin than it is making one from the can, but more of me wants to tell you that it is incredibly time consuming, takes several days to complete and requires that you hire an army of gnomes to make the magic that is my pumpkin pie. But I am not a liar and I will be honest. The former is a lie. Anyway, it is very difficult to find gnomes that will work for reasonable wages around the holidays. However, my pie recipe does posses a secret weapon that was created because of a terrible mistake gone horribly right. And that is something I will just have to keep to myself.