Once upon a time, Halloween used to be a holiday that mostly focused around kids. At least for me, that meant going trick or treating; carving jack-o-‘lanterns, and making/buying scary or cute costumes.
 
And, all of these elements are still, absolutely, part and parcel of this uniquely American, ghoulish celebration of all things having to do with the mash-up of ghosts, cheap candy and decorating houses with toilet paper.
 
But in the past decade or so, something else has hit. 
 
Much like the 1950s sci-fi movieThe Blob (which also marked the film debut of ultra-cool dreamboat Steve McQueen), it creeps and spreads and swallows up everything in its path, invading every molecule of Halloween with astounding speed and efficiency. Moreover, it’s now making its debut in August, and it doesn’t even start to retreat until everything to do with Christmas is at full warp speed. 
 
We’re talking pumpkin spice.
 
Don’t misunderstand me.
 
I like a good slice of pumpkin pie as much as anyone else, especially when it’s ice cold and homemade; topped with real whipped cream, and uses sweetened condensed milk as a key ingredient. I’m also okay with a piece of pumpkin bread a few times during the year, and roasted pumpkin seeds are fine, too.  Actually, my savory pumpkin soup is topped with that very item.
 
But in 2003, everything began to change.
 
That’s when one mighty conglomerate decided to try its hand at something new.  Depending on what side of the arena you’re standing in, the company achieved either astounding success—or made zillions of enemies.  
 
Here are more details.  
 
Fourteen years ago that spring, on the seventh floor of Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, a small group of employees was handed the secret task of coming up with a new flavor for autumn. Through the magic of chemistry, this same team had already invented Eggnog Latte and Peppermint Mocha; now, the powers that be wanted to add a fall beverage to
the lineup. 
 
So, between forkfuls of pumpkin pie and gulps of hot espresso, they attempted to figure out what flavors best complemented their coffee. 
 
After three months of making prototypes and conducting other kinds of tests, Pumpkin Spice Latte—also known as PSL—was born. 
 
Later that year, Starbuck’s introduced the drink to 100 stores in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Washington, D.C.  The beverage had a much wider rollout the next year, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.  (A noteworthy addendum: the final result contained no actual pumpkin, and believe it or not, stayed that way until just two years ago.)   
 
But PSL quickly became more, much more, than the newest drink in town. 
 
That’s because Starbuck’s was also intent on giving the flavor its own brand—one that they hoped would evoke a sweet, rose-colored glasses view of the season. 
 
Buy one of these drinks, and soon, you, too, would be privy to watching perfect orange leaves falling from perfect maple trees; buying the most awesome pumpkin from the best pumpkin patch ever, and experiencing sweater weather coziness, always with your forever mate beside you.
 
Traditional print, TV and radio advertising, but especially social media, helped the campaign along in a big way. 
 
In fact, the beverage even has its own Twitter account (@TheReal PSL, with its profile photo the drink topped with whipped cream and wearing orange sunglasses), which means that someone in Seattle has to come up with new and witty things to say about a chemically laden, sugary high calorie drink on a nearly daily basis.  As writing jobs go, it certainly wouldn’t be one I’d be thrilled to do, but what do I know?  
 
But now, you don’t even have to like lattes to get gobbled up in the invasion.
 
That’s because, especially this month, pumpkin spice whatever-you-want seems to be, well, everywhere.    
 
This seems mostly true at Trader Joe’s, which started in Los Angeles as a little niche place for wine, cheese and bread lovers, but is now a full-service grocery with nearly 500 stores across the country featuring employees wearing faux Hawaiian shirts.  Boasting many of its own in-house labels, this year’s TJ’s offerings include pumpkin spice flavored coffee and tea, pancake mix, bagels, cookies, cold cereal, ice cream and biscotti. 
 
Elsewhere, other markets are busy hawking pumpkin spice Oreos, organic kale chips (here’s an eewww to that one) and paleo protein powder (double eewww).  One website I visited listed 65—yes, sixty-five—pumpkin spiced foods, with its list including pretzels, snack cakes, coffee creamer, yogurt and truffles.
 
However, you needn’t despair if you still can’t handle the idea of eating pumpkin spice. 
 
That’s because you can still slather your body with it.
 
Yup, a recent shopping center visit found me agog in a national chain body shop store that was hawking pumpkin spice scrubs, moisturizers, bar soaps and hand lotions.  Why anyone would want this scent all over themselves and in their hair is a mystery that even I, an admittedly nosy journalist, don’t want to solve.   Sadly, it wouldn’t surprise me if the next few years, consumers will be able to indulge in pumpkin spice toothpaste, tampons and even motor oil. 
 
(A Facebook chum has some of these fake items mixed in with the real stuff right here, at www.facebook.com/susan.jordan.5686/media_set?set=a.10206927037515021.1073741842.1250602537&type=3.  Maybe you can spot the counterfeit ones—or maybe not.)
 
But, hey, that’s the corporate world for you. 
 
Hand them a fad, and it’s bound to become a never-ending trend... one that apparently isn’t about to vanish anytime soon.     
It’s pretty obvious what side of the circus tent I’m on when it comes to pumpkin spice.  But what about you? 
I look forward to your comments and stories!     

With the weather at last beginning to cool down in our little beach town, I’ve been thinking about soup.
 
More specifically, making my favorite soup, from scratch of course. 
 
And in the coming months right after this one, when it’s pitch black by six o’clock; the wind is cold and blowing hard, and flip flops are definitely not the best footwear for the season, I’ll be putting together lots of other savory broths, too.  
 
My preferred soup is chicken with matzo balls, and there are more than a few reasons why it’s The Chosen One.
 
Nostalgia is the biggest explanation.
 
My mom made this soup for as long as I can remember, probably because it was both cheap and uber-simple.  She’d buy a whole chicken on sale, cut it up, and then dump the meat with enough water to cover the poultry by an inch or so.   The chicken would cook until it was nearly off the bone; after that, she’d add one chopped onion, some carrots cut in a circular shape, and a few stalks of chopped celery.  Final steps were putting in table salt and pepper and bringing the pot to a boil.  After simmering for an hour or so, she’d pull the chicken out, serving it separately on a platter, and keep the broth and veggies in its pot.
 
For a few years when she’d serve this dish, I would dump nearly an entire sleeve of saltines into my bowl, turning dinner into something I called gruel.  (Now that I think about it, this was also around the time I was memorizing songs from the stage play Oliver!, the not  entirely unhappy story about orphan Oliver Twist.  This staging is also where Monkee heartthrob Davy Jones got his first big break, but I digress.)   
 
Like most of my cooking, I’ve now made this soup better by “jollying up” the recipe, which consequently makes it my own.   
First, I buy the chicken already cut, going to a real butcher to get exactly what I want—four meaty thighs and one large half breast, all with skin and bone still on.  I put those pieces in my mom’s Dutch oven, along with bottled water, and bring to a gentle boil, then simmer, all the while removing the pieces of white glob that migrate to the top.  
 
The chicken is done in half an hour, so I remove it (something mom should have done to prevent overcooking), but keep the broth on low.  At this time, I’ll also add a heaping teaspoon or two of Better than Bouillon chicken flavor, but if I don’t have any of that around, a few Knorr bouillon chicken cubes will do.  After the meat has cooled, I discard the skin and bones, and chop the meat into bite-size pieces. 
 
I’ve also started my veggie mix around now.  
 
In a large skillet, I take two or three large loose carrots (never ever buy baby carrots, as they dry out more easily, and in fact, aren’t miniature carrots at all, but remnants from bigger carrots that machines make pretty and smooth and polished), peel them and then cut them matchstick style.  This medley also has one large chopped white or yellow onion (whatever is around) and two or three celery sticks, cut julienne style with a good handful of roughly chopped celery leaves thrown in.  I stir this mix for a couple of minutes in a tablespoon or so of good olive oil, then dump it into my broth.  Then I turn the heat up to a low boil and let everything cook for about 15 minutes.  Next, I turn off the burner and nope, I haven’t put the chicken pieces back in yet.
 
Oh, the matzo balls.
 
My mom would occasionally make them with her soup, but she didn’t know the tricks to making them light and fluffy. They weren’t exactly hockey pucks, but they weren’t exactly melt-in-your-mouth dumplings, either.
 
Lucky for me, I’ve received some guidance in this arena. 
 
I only use name brand matzo meal—Manischewitz or Streit’s—and I get the meal, not the mix.  I follow the directions to a tee except for these things:  I use egg whites, not the entire egg, and instead of broth or water to moisten the matzo, I add club soda.  These two tips help make the finished product light.  But the most important piece of advice I’ve received is this: when shaping the matzo balls, handle them gently and as little as possible.  After the dumplings are assembled, I bring my soup back up to a rolling boil.
 
The raw matzo balls are then dropped into the broth, one at a time. (If you’d like, you can also add a handful of Manischewitz egg noodles now, but even that’s bit much for this carb loving clown.) After the matzo balls are done—they’ll expand to about three times their original size—I lower the temperature and put the cut up chicken back in, heating the meat through.  Lastly, I add my herbs and seasonings, anywhere from a tablespoon to about one-quarter cup of fresh dill and Italian parsley, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. 
 
Now, turn the soup off and let it set up for a few minutes before ladling it out. Because this soup also freezes well, I sometimes divide the leftovers up in a few individual size containers for later lunches. 
 
I have a lot of other favored soups. 
 
There’s a recipe for the official United States Senate Navy Bean, cut out from a long-ago newspaper and found in my mom’s old recipe box, and a dried split pea made with short ribs instead of a ham hock, typed by someone whose name I don’t recognize, and also discovered in the same box.  I’m always looking for new soup ideas, too: I’ve done Ina Garten’s wild cream of mushroom soup (amazingly good and amazingly labor intensive), and recently, I made an easy cream of celery soup that I’m thinking of serving as the first course for our Christmas Eve supper.  In the next few weeks, I’ll be trying a beef soup that calls for two pounds of meat on a bone—allowed to simmer for a full four hours before any other ingredients are added. 
 
Beyond their yumminess, I make soups for many reasons.
 
One, being a foodie, I actually enjoy the preparation, and then, getting to see what I’ve created in a relatively short amount of time.  But many soups are also high fiber and low fat; provide a great introduction of flavorful vegetables to children, and fill one up without a lot of empty calories.  And for those who might not know, chicken soup has its own benefits: the traditional recipe acts as an anti-inflammatory agent and also helps clear out mucus, which makes it an invaluable menu choice during cold and flu season.
 
And lastly, admit it: during the chilliest months of the year, there’s really no better smell than a made-with-love, homemade soup simmering on the stove. 
 
What about you?  What are your favorite soups, and why?  I look forward to your stories and comments!