Tea, tea and pumpkinry

Guess how much I paid for these seven pumpkins?

Tea is expensive. And, let's just say that the freelancing career of late hasn't been most lucrative. So, though I'm certain nobody wants to waste money on bad tea, I've been extra cautious about trying new ones. I've gone cheap, something I typically reserve for base layers of clothing (Old Navy, old pal). See, my body decidedly manages its temperature with whatever I'm drinking. As fall arrives, I must be careful to stock up on un-caffeinated beverages, all the better to avoid mid-day heart palpitations.

My last trip to Whole Foods was expressly made to buy this Stomach Ease tea from Yogi, which is so full-flavored I've been drinking it nonstop. Pretty sure I shouldn't. (It's for mild constipation and I'll leave it at that. Funny, short story about the time I thought they'd renamed this tea 'Get Regular,' you know marketers. In reality 'Get Regular' is a laxative. I drank it once, haven't confused the two since. The end.) The point is that I needed a flavorful decaf with which to warm myself as the weather goes to crap.

The whole cabinet of Yogi teas was on sale — jackpot! I loaded up on Stomach Ease as my fallback and was then completely torn between five other types: Calm, Kava Stress Relief, Bedtime, Cold Season, Echinacea (how DO you spell that?). My deliberations were so painstaking that even I was annoyed. Tea's still $3.50 per box, and I didn't want more than five boxes. Enter the Yogi genius, inventer of the sampler pack. Love it. Four varieties per pack, and I got all five of my choices in two boxes. So far, Bedtime is my favorite, Breathe Easy is a perfect minty cup for afternoons, and Kava Stress Relief smells like a mud puddle but actually tastes okay. Which leads me to pumpkins.

I was sipping a cup of Cold Season (decent, tastes a little like medicine) at the farmers market today, trolling for pumpkins. I purposely waited for the cheap, half-price fare, a prize for purposeful holiday latecomers. I even wore a pumpkin-colored sweater by absolute accident that I think charmed my visit. You will be jealous of the seven pumpkin varieties I bought today for $10.50. Five are edible, though who knows how far we'll get with that. I do think post-carving pumpkin seeds are in order.