Fall

So yesterday morning I woke up and realized that the unusual feeling that I was experiencing was that of being well-rested. In the next breath I felt guilty, because my being well-rested meant that my poor long-suffering husband had been up with the kids for hours. I sprang out of bed, fully intending to rush downstairs and send him back to bed for the rest of the morning, stepped on the first step - and promptly fell down the stairs.

Ouch.

"That's the way to start the day off with a bang!" - my mom.

Nothing was broken or badly damaged, thank goodness, and so I ended up heading off to church where The Baby was able to stay for at LEAST three minutes! It's a new record! I took her down to the Sunday School room and we got to make yarn leaves with the Sunday School class because it was the first day of autumn. It feels like autumn here, too - the kids go to school wearing their fall jackets now, and the leaves are quickly changing into their flamebright colours. Sometimes you can smell a woodstove in the evenings. It's funny how unlamented summer's passing is, but it wears out its welcome and we end up happy to sit on a porch in the evening, wrapped in a quilt and drinking hot cider. Not that I've done that, but doesn't it sound nice? Now if only I could get out to my porch without injuring myself...

After their baths last night, my pajama-clad children helped me make pumpkin cupcakes. I had big plans to frost them with an orange cream cheese icing and then make little stems and leaves from green fruit roll-ups, but laziness overtook me and I did not. They are very yummy anyhow, and my kids came dashing downstairs out of their beds when they heard them come out of the oven. They sat on the bottom steps to have their late-night snack (all of 8:30!) before running back up to their beds and not waking up again until morning. The pumpkin cupcakes - muffins, really - are pleasantly homely and spicy, lined up on the counter and ready to be grabbed as people run out the door, ready to start the day (maybe with a bang, maybe not) in this beautiful fall which will not last.

Comments

[Kath]

Yummmm! Definitely bookmarking that recipe, since my daughter's birthday is almost on Hallowe'en, and these would be a great treat for the requisite cupcakes-on-my-birthday treat at school. Thanks!

[Stephanie G.]

So glad you didn't break anything!

Yum, pumpkin!

[Lori]

Yikes! I haven't actually fallen down the stairs at this house yet but I'm worried it is just a matter of time, as I have tripped a few times but managed to catch myself while my life flashed before my eyes. I have 2 options - the basement steps which end in a cement wall, or the carpeted stairs to the bedrooms which ends with a buffet just a few feet away. Neither sound like really good options so it means I almost always hang onto the railing on both staircases. That's hard to do when carrying a basket of laundry too! But maybe you should try it.

[alpha.dogma]

I should never blog-read while hungry. Must. Have. Snack. NOW!

[Guinevere Meadow]

Ooh, those look good. My friend recently made Apple Pumpkin muffins, which I absolutely DEVOURED.

So sorry you fell!!

I've got a good recipe for apple cider. I'll dig it up and email it to you later. :)

[NotSoSage]

You're making me hungry.

I was just thinking the other day that I have never, ever fallen down the stairs, and yet I don't go down a flight without being worried about it. I'm worried it's a premonition. :)

[Jen]

Funny. In Britain they use "homely" the way we would use "homey" so really you were right, Beck, if you were speaking The Queen's Proper English ;)

The muffins look yum but the cream cheese icing would have made them out of this world!

[Marta]

Whether homely or homey, the cupcakes look delicious! And just because it is fall, Beck, it doesn't mean you have to take it literally! Watch your step!!!

[Mad Hatter]

That Beck. She puts the prone back in accident prone.

[chelle]

mmm those muffins look so so so yummy!

egads on the stairs!!! Hope you heal quickly.

[Margot]

Okay, I just made the muffins & they are amazing!!! Only recommendation though is to double the recipe, because it only made 12 muffins (decent sized ones though) & that will last, oh, about a day here!!! Thanks for the inspiration!!

[Karen MEG]

Oh, those cupcakes look delish! Ouch about the stairs though - you gotta be really careful. My cousin skipped a step going down the stairs when she was about 10 years old and broke her arm in two places! Glad you weren't badly hurt.

Always enjoy your column, Beck. Your sense of humour shines through every time.

Aunt L.

[bren j.]

Mm. Mm. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! That's just the sort of Autumnal treat I've been craving. Thanks, beck!

[crazymumma]

You crazy cooking types are always throwing yourselves into your baking.

sorry. It was the best I could come up with, and I am very happy indeed that you did not injure yourself

[Omaha Mama]

You make me laugh. I, too, envision romantic images of sitting outside under a blanket sipping cider. Doesn't happen, but sometimes the daydream is just as nice. The muffins look yummy, I have happily forgotten summer too. Now is when we start yearning for a hard freeze to end the sniffles. Funny, I always seem to be wishing away time.

[lisa b]

Mmm
you accomplished all that AFTER falling down the stairs? I bow to you kitchen goddess.

[Barb @ A Chelsea Morning]

You know what? I just ran over and looked at your recipe and the ingredients are so close to my pumpkin cookies, I think I'll make your muffins instead! It's the cream cheese frosting, of course, and I just happen to have some on hand. :-)

[Barb @ A Chelsea Morning]

For heaven's sake - thank goodness you didn't break anything. The very thought of falling down a flight of stairs makes me cringe - of course my bones are just a tad older than yours. :-)

Your homely, homey muffins are wonderful looking, especially in those autumny cupcake papers. I can almost smell them! I think I'll whip up a batch of pumpking cookies today!

[painted maypole]

looks like comfort food for the physically and psychically bruised. ouch.

[Susanne]

Oh dear. You must be okay if you were right into baking the same night. Wow, I wish I had a smell-o-monitor. Those look goooood. I had such big plans to make banana muffins last night but I somehow lost my ooomph after grocery shopping. If I send you my address maybe you can mail me some of your muffins? ;v)

Sitting on the porch with apple cider and afghan sounds like heaven. Glad you are alright.

[Heidi]

Sounds good to me!

[Heidi]

Sounds good to me!

[Heidi]

Sounds good to me!

[Heidi]

Sounds good to me!

[Heidi]

Sounds good to me!

[Alyssa Goodnight]

Yum! I was just eyeing a recipe in a magazine for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with cream cheese icing, but these sound yummier! The orange cream cheese seems like a very nice touch!

Hope the achiness disappears soon--and go sit out on the front porch just once, and I'll live vicariously through you. Still in the nineties here...

[christine]

I fall down the stairs with great frequency. ever since i was a kid. sometimes i just fall while standing there. sad, really.

and after we devour our gingerbread boys i'll have to make some of those muffins. yum!

[LoriD]

I'm always a week behind you with the baking (perhaps I'm a baking stalker?!) Two weeks ago, I made gingerbread cookies (your recipe), this weekend I made butter tarts (mom's recipe) and I plan to make pumpkin muffins next weekend (from an old old recipe I have in my book). After seeing yours, though, I'll need some of those muffin cups.

Hope you're not too bruised from your fall :-)

[Kyla]

You fall down stairs pretty frequently, eh? I remember a trip down the porch last winter, I think. ;)

Yum! You make the best goodies.

[Rosebud & Papoosie Girl]

These look great...I hope you are not too bruised!

[nomotherearth]

You're making me hungry. I love pumpkin baked goods. And hot apple cider, for that matter.

[Pieces]

What a wonderful post, Beck. I'm sorry about your fall. And I'm shamefully glad that you don't actually sit on the porch, wrapped in a quilt, sipping cider. Because that would vault you straight past perfect-mom into angelic-mom and I would feel even more like shlub-mom. Maybe I'll make the muffins today!

[Beck]

I meant HOMELY. I thought they were ugly, but in a nice way.

[slouching mom]

OK, so did you mean "pleasantly homely" or "pleasantly homey"?

Because the first has me laughing.

[Laura]

Oh man...I fell down our stairs a few weeks ago. I wasn't badly damaged, but I managed to soak up the drama of it all (and nurse my big ol' bruise) for at least a good day. Then you went to church? I feel weak. :)

Those pumpkin muffins sound so yummy. I'm baking tomorrow - I may just have to put some of these together! Do you make them gluten free too? I haven't yet figured out how to make regular recipes with GF ingredients.

[Soul Fusion]

As I've said, I have had a craving to try these. Now I really must. Sorry for your fall - sounds exactly like something I would do.

[Becky]

Ouch is right. I'm glad you can still feed yourself. Grab a cupcake/muffin and cozy up today by treating yourself nice. You deserve it.

[Aliki]

I hope you're feeling less bruised today!

Thank you, thank you, for the pumpkin cupcake recipe. I'm in need of just that for a family Halloween party we'll be giving in a few weeks. They look scrumptious!

[Pastormac's Ann]

Oooo, those look and sound so delicious!

Glad to hear that you didn't hurt yourself seriously falling down the stairs. Your mom's comment sounds exactly like something my dad would say. ;-)

Wonderful Monday post as usual.

[Janet]

Ouch! I stepped on an errant car, once, and fell down the stairs. Not fun.

The cupcakes look great. I've made pumpkin muffins in the past, which the kids wouldn't eat, but my husband loved. I think the icing would push the kids into trying them.

[erin k]

That could only happen to you, Beck. Happy Autumn.