Boo! Time is Flying...

The aptly named "Brain Squash" (ugh!)

Hope you picked up the fixings for your Halloween party last Saturday at the Market, while enjoying your newly free parking at the neighboring Barnes & Noble! Martin Family Orchards featured a squash-a-ganza alongside their plentiful fruits, including that nasty one pictured above. I didn't even ask if it was edible (I'm sure it is), but the party game might have been who would dare to cut into it. Blech.

Not all the squashes I saw were so aesthetically challenged:

Better...

And a downright bee-yooty!

'Tis the season for squash. In soups, roasted, in a souffle--any old way. I can even get two of my kids to eat it, if I do it up Thanksgiving-style, with pralines and marshmallows.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we have only four Markets left to close out the season, four Saturdays leading up to the Big Event, otherwise known as the day before Black Friday. And there are some things you won't want to miss before they're gone.

1. You have eaten from the Los Chilangos van, right? Across my family we've eaten the Huarache, the tacos, and the quesadilla with carnitas. Oh my word. Delicious like you can't believe.

Or maybe, as the weather turns chilly, your thoughts turn toward Hawaii and that trip you're not taking. Well--at least send your taste buds to the Islands, by checking out the new truck:

It's been getting some press, including this detailed review by the Accidental Eater. According to him, the "Loco Moco" is the can't-miss dish I'll have to try this weekend (my 10YO chose Los Chilangos last week). If a ground beef patty, sauteed onions, gravy, and a fried egg over rice aren't your thing (for which I may have to unfriend you), the truck offers plenty of other tastebud journeys.

Wash your meal down with water, sure, but even better would be some of the fresh apple cider at Martin Family Orchards.

You'll still have plenty to take home and heat with cinnamon sticks on the stove! So make your shopping lists and come out this Saturday. Lots of dishes for the Big Feast freeze ahead nicely, like apple pies or green bean casserole, or loaves of artisan bread, one for eating and one for ripping up into stuffing...