Pumpkin Spam?

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights of your life to choose love and light.

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice That’s What Little Girls Are Made Of.

Yes, a variation of that is what I grew up with. Of course I heard it when I was not everything nice. Actually I also heard it when it was used to admonish my brothers. However, I find I am once again digressing from the focus of my blog post. Hmmm.

A year ago, I saw something about Pumpkin Spam and wondered what would become pumpkinized next. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that I don’t like pumpkins. I used to grow a few each year so we’d have our own gourds to carve for Halloween or to harvest the seeds for snacks. I’m a fan of Costco’s pumpkin pie, especially with real whipped cream. I can get behind pumpkin soup because I like a good hearty autumn squash soup.

Deposit Photo...Yummy pumpkin pie

But pumpkin spice spam? Pumpkin spice lipstick? Pumpkin spice coffee flavoring? Not so much.

When I was at the grocery store yesterday I saw new (at least to me) flavors of Kettle Chips. They looked so nasty (at least to me) I can’t even remember the names.

Another thought that popped into my head as I started to write this post was a memory of an ice cream flavor competition sponsored by Ben & Jerry’s. The goal was to create a flavor that wasn’t currently known and the winner’s flavor would become a B&J flavor. Now I love ice cream so I settled down to watch. Much to my dismay the goal was to mashup as many different food products as possible into some flavor of ice cream.

Yummy Pumpkin Soup courtesy of Deposit Photos.
Do notice the spiders and fingers.

I realized as the competition went on that I was an ice cream purist aka snob. I think the only two ice creams I purchase that have ‘stuff’ in them are Umpqua Dairy’s Bordeaux Cherry and any brand of Mint Chocolate Chip.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t just eat vanilla ice cream. However I eat pie alamode, not ice cream with pie in it. Cookie dough in my ice cream? Yuk.

Banana splits, ice cream sundaes, milk shakes are all okay. Those shakes that put candy bars, cookies, etc. in them? Not for me.

And a pumpkin spice milkshake or pumpkin spice ice cream? I can’t see myself ordering that at all.

Pumpkin spice whipped cream, chocolate covered pumpkin something? Nope, not for me.

I have wondered if we, in our efforts to be different, to add excitement to our lives or maybe dull some of the external stress that surrounds us now look to mashups of various foods to divert our attention. That’s about all I can think of for the plethora of strange combinations that seem to be flooding the grocery stores.

So back to the basic pumpkin. That sorta roundish orange (usually) gourd that we paint or carve or in some way decorate this time of year. Where are you with pumpkin spam? Would you even try it?

Yes, a pumpkin spice latte courtesy of Deposit Photos

What about pumpkin spice milkshakes? Pumpkin spice ice cream? Pumpkin spice flavored coffee?

I’m asking because it’s been brought to my attention over the years that I am, at times, out of step with the current trends. And perhaps that’s the case now. Actually it more than likely is the case. I stopped at a local bakery yesterday and they had pumpkin spice latte on their coffee menu. I did ask about it and Yes, it is very popular.

Does anything pumpkin appear in my books? I don’t remember if it does. Perhaps there’s a vague mention of a pumpkin pie at a Thanksgiving meal?

Learn more about my books, workshops and training on my website JudithAshley.net.

You can find my books at your favorite e-book vendor as well as through Windtree Press. Print books are available at Jan’s Paperbacks in Hillsboro, OR and Arte Soleil in Portland, OR. Get the addresses from my website. And be sure to ask your library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

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