A Fall Favorite

When I worked for Einstein's, we always were aware of what the seasonal offerings would be well before any customer saw them in the stores. Working in the marketing department and then the training department, there were many times in the middle of the summer when I was testing and tasting items that would be in the stores in October or December. Those summers I could never get a true sense of how things like pumpkin muffins or cranberry bagels would taste. To me, the food needs to go with the season in order to truly taste it. Kind of like eating salads in the summer, or chili in the winter. It just tastes right.

Like pumpkin bagels. Tasting these in the summer never appealed to me. But when the weather starts turning cooler, I get a hankering for these. (I had to email my friend Megan at Einstein's and ask when they were coming out this year). When I worked in the stores, I would have one every day while they were available. I would grab one out of the bin, zing it through the slicer, and slide it into the toaster. Then I would spread butter on it and savor it.

Now I have to ration them. Stein brought a dozen of these beauties home a couple weeks ago. I save one for Fridays, a treat for getting through the week. And then I usually have one on Saturdays too. So I guess that means that in about 4 weeks they'll be gone. Until then, I'm savoring every bite. It tastes like fall.