It is one of my favorite times of year, pumpkin season. I love pretty much all things pumpkin. My daughter told me recently that I loved pumpkin spice long before it was such a big thing.

I am going to say my mother probably started my pumpkin love obsession. It also didn’t hurt that one of her pet names for me was Punkin. When I was a kid it was a really big deal to get to go get an ice cream cone from Baskin and Robbins.  I always got French vanilla ice cream because it is my favorite to this day with one exception, pumpkin ice cream. My mom would always take me to get a scoop or two in the fall. It wouldn’t be in the ice cream store for long, but somehow my mother always knew when to go. I still have fond memories thinking about

 When I was seven my dad remarried and I suddenly had a new grandmother. Let me tell you that she made the best pumpkin chiffon pie. After she passed away, I was given her pie pans. I have made many pumpkin chiffon pies in those pans. My daughter expects it every Thanksgiving as I learned to look forward to it when my grandmother was alive. Before she passed away I asked her for the recipe. I lost it in Hurricane Harvey along with all my recipes. Fortunately, I was able to find the recipe in an old cookbook and was able to remember how she taught me to make it.

Now another favorite of mine is pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin bread. I now bake my own pumpkins because I have discovered fresh pumpkin is far superior to canned pumpkin in my opinion. I get so excited when the baking pumpkins appear in the stores. The strange thing is they usually come out in October and are hard to find in November. I also love pumpkin seeds. Here again my mother got me hooked on them. I will say they are a little work to get cleaned, but so worth the effort. I love to roast them in the oven with a little olive oil and fajita seasoning, yu

I am not a coffee drinker so I have never acquired a taste for pumpkin lattes. I will however continue looking forward to pumpkin season and all the deliciousness that goes along with it.