Dreaming of a Midwestern Fall

Before I moved to LA, Der Ubermensch always told me LA was temperate.  It didn’t get hot enough to need AC and didn’t get cold enough to need heat.  Bad weather always follows me, so of course that would change as soon as I arrive as a permanent resident.

Whenever autumn rolls around, I always feel an intense urge to bake.  Magazines in the check-out lanes in the grocery store exhibit beautiful fall cakes and pies and I start to crave baked goods that showcase the flavors of the season. This year, my urge started in early September, as soon as those magazines hit the shelves.  Unfortunately, since I now live in Los Angeles, early September doesn’t necessarily look anything like autumn.  It looks (and feels) like a 100+° desert, and in addition to the fact that the only air conditioning Der Ubermensch and I have is the dinky window AC that I wouldn’t really call efficient, you would think I would be deterred until the heat backed off.  Oh no, not me!  I decided to start baking on what I think was the hottest day of the year.  It got above 100° in Hollywood and heat advisories were out all over the Valley.  I made a beautiful apple carrot bread recipe two times that week.  It’s now been almost 2 months, and temperatures in Lalaland remain in the upper 80’s most days.  I know I’ll regret it when the time comes, but I almost wish it was winter again where I have to turn on the oven to warm the little apartment (because we don’t have heat either)!  

I’m in a similar predicament when it comes to fashion as well.  When it’s the first few weeks of school, does anyone else feel like reinventing yourself, even if you’ve long been graduated?  Now, I know the new year starts in January according to the Gregorian calendar, but to me I feel like autumn is the time for real beginnings, probably because I’m still young enough to associate it with the school year...or maybe it’s just that it’s my birthday!  The temperature gets crisp and cool, your makeup gets a few shades darker, and you get to wear cozy jeans, boots, sweaters, blazers, scarves…all of my favorites!  But alas, this is LA, and it’s been in the 80’s on a good day.  It’s still sundress and sandal weather!  You can’t wear boots and jeans and scarves! Do you want to die from heat stroke?

So, instead I’ll just like vicariously through my friends and family who live in places with autumns and look at pictures of leaves changing as I sweat in my apartment while I bake apple crisp. 

But you know what?  I won’t be shoveling snow in January!

                      Bye, Lovelies