My Fall Sport: Eating

Well thank God the snow has finally fallen and we can get on with winter. My pants aren’t fitting right, and it’s fall’s fault.

Fall is without question my favorite season of the year, and we’ve had a GORGEOUS and very prolonged one here on the Front Range. While it has been wonderful, me and my waistline are grateful to see it come to a close.

I used to think of fall as my “off” season – but now I realize I do have a fall sport. Eating. Once bathing suit season ends and the weather chills out, I fire up the oven and things pour out on a semi-daily basis. Fall also means we have time to eat at the restaurants I’ve been saving up on my mental go-to list. All summer long it builds: “once we get out of the obligation of summer, we’ll eat at X. and Y. and Z. Oh, and A-W too.”

For better or for worse, my fall sport is eating. Summer in Colorado means you’re kinda required to enjoy every.single.minute, accept every invitation that comes your way, go on as many hikes as you possibly can, and in every possible way just live it up. The specter of winter is not so ghastly here, but the culture of outdoors and the obligation to enjoy it is strong. So summer is parties, hikes, travel, absorbing UV rays, camping up a storm, and 40 other activities. Winter (for us) means snowboarding. That leaves fall and spring – we usually use those months to recover from the previous season, do all the house projects neglected while we were out playing hard, and prep for the next season’s harried pace.This fall has been rich! You may recall such adventures as the Overachiever’s Bake Sale, guest-judging the Holy Smokes Cook-Off, and our 2014 Chocolate Cake-Off. Not to mention Pumpkin Bread French Toast making me weak in the knees and expanding in circumference.

In Boulder this fall I was pleased as punch by our beer, wine, and chocolate pairing and tasting event at Piece, Love & Chocolate and my many many subsequent visits, moms night out at The Kitchen Upstairs, brunch at Pizzeria Locale, and a wonderful warm meal at Zeal.

And Denver, my love – let us not forget you! How lucky I am to live between these two towns ever vying to be best of the best. In Denver this fall I sated myself at Masterpiece Delicatessen where it is severely impossible to choose which sandwich to order, the good news being that it is equally impossible to go wrong. Same could be said of the flavors at Little Man Ice Cream. Then there was The Big Wonderful – the old-made-new-again idea of getting a bunch of fab people to commune around a lot of good food. Or, in this case, around a lot of good food trucks. Check it out when it returns next summer, as it is sure to do.Let’s not even mention fall’s HUGE publishing boon – every cookbook they’ve been waiting to release, every best of 2014 list coming out, and every magazine’s Thanksgiving and Christmas issues on the coffee table.

I won’t go so far as to say I regret the excesses I’ve enjoyed this fall, just that I’m definitely looking forward to the change of pace and focus. It’s fall fatigue – the giddy anticipation of August has given way to the belt-loosening of November. As fall transitions into winter in this, the month of Thanksgiving, I often reflect on what a true luxury and privilege it is to eat the way I do. To eat so often and to eat so well is to be so grateful – emphasis on full ;).