Tuesday Tidbits: 'Tis the Season(ing)

Leon Stevens

Oct 3

You now know how I feel about that.

October. It's the season where Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas meet—at Costco and many of the Big big box stores at least. Spirit of Halloween stores spring up where other stores have failed, people are scrambling to book their travel plans (or thinking of excuses not to) for the next 3 months, dentists are rubbing their hands together thinking of all the sugar that will be consumed in 21 days, and we all are thinking the same thing:

"Is it January yet?"

Back to the spice. Not the Dune version or the term used by authors to denote erotic content in their books*.

Cinnamon: Mmm. What a wonderful spice. sprinkle a little on you coffee grounds before brewing for a pleasant change.

Ginger: What would ginger beef be without it? Yeah, just beef.

Nutmeg: No sir, I don't like it—or do I? You find it in two forms, the bitter, acrid powder in the square metal container that never seems to run out, or the nut (which never runs out) you have to rub on a kitchen rasp (putting your fingertips in jeopardy). I can't remember what the last thing I used it in.

Cloves: Yuck.

Allspice: Despite the name, it's not all the spices.

Honorable mention goes to ...

Salt: Not included in pumpkin spice, but I like salt. I use it sparingly, I'll always taste before adding. I just counted and I have nine containers of salt: Table, two different sea salts pink Himalayan, flake, oak-smoked, habanero infused, another flaked salt that tastes different from the other one, and a mushroom-infused one. I'm not counting the garlic and onion salts, or the seasoning salt.

Speaking of salt, I made bread yesterday and completely forgot to add salt. Did it taste OK? Yeah. Coulda' used some salt though.

-Leon

^{*Spice level in books by Leon Stevens: 0, unless you count the short romance story I penned on a whim which is level 1 - no Shades of Gray here.}

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/