Fall fell this week.

like a ton of bricks. Last week was beautiful indian summer weather, and this week the 'frost is on the pumpkin'! Literally. A freeze warning was issued last night. Ack! It's only mid-October. This does not bode well for our energy bill this winter. I, however, will do my part by providing warm, life-giving sustenance to my brood, and today it looks like this:

 

The smell is divine! I found this recipe on the internet- here, in fact--and was intrigued when it was described as 'Autumn in a crockpot'-with apples, sausage, rice, allspice--Autumn, indeed! Now, I have to admit, usually when I look at a recipe, and decide at whatever point that I am going to give it a shot, I almost immediately start thinking: OK, I don't want to have to go to the store, so I'm going to substitute this for that, and oh, I don't have enough of those, so I'll just put some of this in, and ew--I hate those, so I'm not putting any of them in...then I taste the end result, and I think: "Gross! How did this recipe ever make it to publication?" It finally dawned on me (in the frighteningly recent past) just how much I was sabotaging myself by doing this, and that I owed it to myself and all the nice recipe authors out there to give the recipe ONE SHOT their way, before giving it one shot my way. (*and* I have a rather strict '3 strikes and you're outta here' policy with regard to recipes.) With this new policy in place, I have discovered some long-latent tastebuds of late. Mea Culpa.

That little story just there was all to explain why I am cooking a savory dish with allspice in it. I really wanted to leave it out, because I'm not a huge fan of allspice, unless it is in holiday baked goods, but I remembered my rule, and the smell of my house is my reward. I can tell that it is really going to be perfect with the sausage and rice; a wonderful complement.

Now onto the Fall sport: This photo would be of my amazingly talented, whip-smart and hauntingly beautiful daughter, who also happens to have discovered that she's not a half-bad water polo goalie. :) The Sheldon water polo team has not, before this season won a game in 4 years. This year they have won 7.

*just sayin'*