Monthly Archives: October 2012

Without fail, at the same time every year, the winds return to Portland.

They sweep in from the east, gathering speed and strength as they funnel through the Columbia River Gorge, following the same channel cleared by the Missoula Floods so many thousands of years ago. I could give you the long, drawn-out meteorological explanation of how wind forms and what it means in relation to the changing seasons, but there’s nothing October-y or poetic about that.

It’s now safe to get your sweaters out, people. Fall is really here.

This one’s a short post as the next few October Thoughts will be. You see, there’s this soccer game happening on Sunday and I’m a bit preoccupied.

I did, however, find this Tolkien reference to the East Wind:

“That is as it should be,” said Aragorn. “In Minas Tirith they endure the East Wind, but they do not ask it for tidings. …”

So, if you’re playing October Thoughts Bingo, you can mark off Aragorn, Missoula Floods and soccer from your card.

Okay, if you’ve known me for a while and you’ve been following along on my adventures through past Octobers, you know my distaste for popcorn balls.

I mean, really. Popcorn balls? What the hell. Who’s brilliant idea was this?

Someone with some leftover popcorn, no doubt. Or maybe a dentist looking for new clients.

There are no good commercially-made popcorn balls in the entire world. I think this is common knowledge.

But I saw a recipe for something I think might actually be made into a decent homemade popcorn ball with some slight adjustments.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I give you Candy Corn Caramel Popcorn.

1 cup candy corn
3 tsp butter
5 tbsp heavy cream

Melt over low/medium heat.
Pop popcorn, remove extra kernels. No, I don’t know how much. I stole the recipe off someone’s Facebook page and he was using microwave popcorn. Don’t do that. Use real popcorn. Just guess at how much.
Pour melty stuff over popcorn evenly.
Add nuts (might I suggest pecans?) and shake like crazy to mix.
Spread popcorn over a silpat on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 3 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes.
Eat.

I’m sure you could probably form it into balls if that’s your thing, but I’m sure it would be just fine in whatever state it’s in when it leaves the oven.

Again, try this at your own risk. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will sometime soon. I’ll let you know if I find any adjustments that need to be made.

Shockingly, there is no Wikipedia page for popcorn balls. I don’t understand this. I did, however, find the following tidbit on the Wiki popcorn page:

The world’s largest popcorn ball was unveiled in October 2006 in Lake Forest, Illinois. It weighed 3,415 pounds (1,549 kg), measured 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter, and had a circumference of 24.6 ft (7.5 m).

So, there you go. I do not know if that puppy is still there but, if you’re in the neighborhood, you should try to find out.

Oh, lord, there are pictures. I have to find something more productive to do with my time.

I have a cold. It’s clouding my judgement and making it difficult to put words into a meaningful order. I’m terrible when I’m sick. Really, really terrible. Someone, please make me some soup.

So, I put it out to the world of Facebook to offer suggestions as to what I might write about for today. Lots of great answers. I’m sure I’ll get to all of them by the end of the month, but we’ll take Wayne’s suggestion first.

Beer. Wayne says I should write about beer.

And he’s absolutely right.

While I’ve missed every single Oktoberfest in the Portland metro area this year, I did manage to rally enough to make it to the Jubelale release at Deschutes on Tuesday. Winter is coming and with it come the dark, spicy, malty beers of the cold season. Pyramid’s SnowCap and Humbug’r, McMenamins’ Kris Kringle, Ninkasi’s Sleigh’r, Alameda’s Papa Noel. The list is, thankfully, endless.

But, while we wait for more and more of our favorite winter beers to appear at taps everywhere, we’re flush with fresh hops and the lovely things our brewers are doing with them. Fresh hops? you say. Yes. Fresh hops.

We even have a fest for it. Of course we do.

Oregon hops account for just under 20% of the hops production in the United States, roughly 5% of the world’s production. If USAHops.org is to be believed, another 75% of US hops come from Washington. Is it any wonder we love our beer here?

The first known instance of hops cultivation dates to the mid-700s in Germany. Leave it to the Germans. Hops have long been considered medicinal and the scent is said to have a calming effect. Have a touch of insomnia? Slip some hops cones into your pillowcase and sleep like a baby.

More medicinal uses for hops? Click here.

So, there you go, Wayne. A few words about beer, hops and insomnia.

Happy October.

There’s something special about the light of October.

The light of summer is bright and clear but October’s light is tinged with amber. With every passing day, the light grows deeper, richer. More…lifelike.

It is, I think, an echo of the changing color of the world around us. The green of summer foliage gives way to orange and gold and deep, dark red.

The tree in the neighbor’s yard, the one I look to as the bellwether for the changing of the seasons, is still mostly green, though a lesser green than it was just a week or two ago. By this time next week, it will be perhaps half red and the week after that? It will be afire with orange and yellow. When we leave October, it will be bare branches and a memory of the color it once wore.

Take a minute today to look around you. Enjoy the green that remains, but relish those other changing colors. They’re here but for a short time. Make sure you don’t miss them.

Okay, so here’s the thing: I know a fair few of you will have found your way here looking for me to be ranting about the Timbers.

Sorry. October has arrived. Any Timbers rants will be found at SlideRulePass. Please adjust your bookmarks accordingly.

I started writing about October long before I started writing about the Timbers. It feels like it may have been at least a hundred years but, in reality, I haven’t quite reached two decades of this October madness.

Why October?

October is the changing of the seasons, the color of amber, the scent of fallen leaves and, in the far distance, the howl of the werewolf. There’s something for everyone and it’s all crammed into 31 days in the fall.

So, I invite you to come long for the ride. There will be recipes for applesauce and sentimental trips through childhood memories and probably a few lines of a Warren Zevon song.

We enter October 2012 as the Harvest full moon is fading. Our days are growing shorter, our nights longer, and our thoughts turn from summer’s sun and frolic to the darkness of winter awaiting us.George R.R. Martin tells us winter is coming, but I have news for him.

October is here. Winter can wait.

Happy October, folks.