Fall!

After a very thorough job of packing my delicious lunch and all my papers into my bag, I managed to leave home without it. I blame the weather and the ominously expanding autumnal darkness. It is most officially autumn now in the Pacific Northwest - the wind, sheets of rain, and general bluster are upon us. I usually react to this by going to bed - and consequently getting up - earlier and earlier and earlier until I'm pretty sure I can no longer be said to be living on the same time zone as those living around me. It's also cold enough for me to want to wear an extra layer and a warmer coat on the walk to work. Since it's early in the season, so far this involves throwing my professional clothes over some fairly unprofessional underlings (no, don't get your hopes up - not in a Victoria's Secret kind of way):

You'd think I'd still have matching socks at least, but they've been slowly decreasing in volume as my sock stash begins descending into holier-than-thou status and rejecting my feet.

In honor of fall, I've been making more complicated food and mostly doling it out over the week. One batch of rice and some kind of fancy sauce in a microwave safe tupperware is one of the most incredible discoveries when paired with my general proximity to microwaves at my various jobs. I even branched out and made a pie, which may have been marred by its general healthiness, but still tastes quite satisfactorily pumpkiny.

it's fall: there's no such thing as overkill

Another consequence of late November (aside from Halloween, the preparation for which is slowly sloughing off any summer savings that may have been remaining, but who cares!), apparently is ...

"Lover's ..." Lover's what??
Chocolate and punctuation don't mix

THE NORTHWEST CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL(!!) - which is essentially something akin to going to an all-you-can-eat chocolate buffet. Or at least from my perspective. They also had classes and workshops going on all day and if I'd been there with a girl instead of my boyfriend (who was [1] a boy and [2] facing huge amounts of homework and anxious to get somewhere quiet and tackle it) I may have participated in these in between stops to the wine and chocolate pairings garden.

Instead, I made some coffee purveyors explain to me in wine-snob detail the varying qualities of different kinds of coffee (coffee and chocolate go together because they're dark, bitter, hugely addictive, and it boggles the mind any one ever thought to crack through all the complicated preparations required to actually get to the good parts of either). The word"floral" did come up multiple times.  I was in a mood, so I grilled him about all the variables that affect coffee taste and how coffee is shipped and stored and brewed and whatever else I could think of until the line behind me got very long and I decided it was time to chocolate the hell out of my taste buds.

The clear winners for me (ahem ahem, Christmas is coming up and some people seem averse to using my amazon.com list or putting that down payment on my private jet and masseuse...) were from Chocolates by George 2009 winners of the Hot Stuff awards for their rather incredible Great Balls of Fire Truffles, which are made with habeneros and pepper sauce. They also have honey chipotle truffles and chili pepper lips. A close second favorite was a chocolate sauce made with jack daniels, which was by the same chocolatiers. I was hoping to buy some on their website, but it doesn't seem to be listed. There were chocolate makers from all over the country there and I have to admit that I also probably would take frequent breaks if I went again. I think my taste buds needed some neutralizing flaovrs and coffee only went so far. I briefly watched a demo about the how coffee goes from the bean to the bar (and/or the absurdly decadant lotion). I have also learned that vegan chocolate is sort of dry and chalky. But most importantly: it was a buffet of chocolate. If only I'd been pms-ing at the time!

Anyways, while memory of food sustains the mind, the stomach grows growly. I think it is time to attempt to shop at the tiny little food place inside the court house. They  have little that I would ordinarily want to eat, but they do have popcorn! I don't want the popcorn, but it completely entertains me that they sell it. Too bad you can't take it into the courtroom with you.