squash that

I don’t think pumpkins get a fair shake. All the pressure starts building in the early fall (pile me up! make of me a gram-worthy cornucopia! carve me like one of your french gourds!), and then Thanksgiving not only creates a pie-shaped space that all pumpkins must step into, but to make matters worse it unleashes a torrent of HIGHLY inappropriate applications of the pre-mixed spice blend that is the default for many a pie maker. Pie with it if you must but keep that out of my coffee and popcorn and my bath products, please. Among other reasons—why the spice but not the pumpkin? Rich in nutrients and highly adaptable, all the squashes are welcome on my table, spiced or not, and are a vegetable that is quite reliably tasty and available right now. Where I live right now the mercury is leaping up and down nauseatingly like the headlines (well, mostly trending down, kind of like the headlines) and that seems like a good time to bust out this hot and calming little beverage that I just posted over at Rural Intelliigence. Cheers!