Hello Fall

Ah, fall, I absolutely love the coming of fall. It is by far and away my favorite season. I love the crisp air, the smell of wood fire smoke and the changing color of the landscape around us.
I know some of you are dreading the summer turning into fall, knowing that winter won't be far behind and grumbling whenever someone says how happy they are for fall that" we'll see how you like it come cold weather", but I can honestly say bring on the cold.
Though I enjoy summer time activities, I absolutely, positively hate the heat. Come July I am absolutely miserable and only venture outside in the early morning hours and in the late evening if I can get away with it. Blame it on the Finnish in me, but I will take near zero temperatures any day over ones soaring close to one hundred degrees. You can always keep piling on more clothes when it is cold, you can only take off so many when its hot.
Everything about the fall season makes me happy. My two favorite holidays are Halloween and Thanksgiving (food, family and football) I love football, I love wearing sweaters and boots. My favorite colors are part of the fall color family, rusty oranges and reds and mustard yellow etc. I enjoy being able to drink coffee hot out of the pot all day instead of paying to go get an iced coffee. I love feeling my childrens' cold little hands and cheeks when they come in from playing outside and the smell of the cool air on their skin when they snuggle up for a kiss.
There is football and the World Series of Baseball and the start of high school sports and all sorts of fun runs and fitness celebrations that take place in Southern Idaho.
Probably my favorite part of fall is the "re-opening" of my kitchen. Due to my hatred for the heat the oven is shut down once the weather begins to rise and doesn't start back up until fall. I will happily feed my family a foil pack dinner, cooked on the grill every night for three months in a row. The only question being is what protein to use each night. Then fall hits and I go into a baking and roasting frenzy. Excited to eat old comfort food favorites and try out new recipes. I can't wait to make Shepard's Pie, potato soup and a pot roast with Yorkshire Puddings. This year there is a chili recipe that uses pumpkin puree that I am so curious to try. And there are so many stuffed winter squash recipes that I stumbled upon a week or so ago that had my mouth absolutely watering at the thought of them.
To all of you warm weather people who want to reach through the paper and smack me right now, I am sorry, just take solace in the fact that next summer when you are happily baking in the sun I will be a sweaty, sad mess slathering myself in sun block and bug spray waiting for fall.