I’ve been a terrible, negligent blogger recently and I’m really not ok with it. Since moving back to the city, I’ve shamefully posted only three times. Three times! It’s been a month! I used to post three times in a week, and now look what I’ve become. Ugh.

And not to feed you a bunch of excuses, but my life in the past month has made consistent blogging damn near impossible. The biggest obstacle in the way of my routine blogging schedule is the fact that I still don’t have my own place to live. Finding an apartment has proven to be a far bigger nightmare than I expected it to be and if it weren’t for my awesome friends who have taken me in, I’d be just another crazy New York city bum.

On top of all that, I’ve gotten back into the habit of going to the gym (read: even less free time between work and bedtime), and still don’t have my boyfriend around (meaning my dinners for one often include bowls cereal or Twinkies— hardly blog material).

But rest assured faithful readers, all uhm, five of you out there, I’ve still been eating. In fact, in the past month, I’ve been on my annual pumpkin binge. It happens every fall, and this fall even boyfriend and apartment-lessness hasn’t stopped me.

Pumpkin muffins are always around somewhere, and this year I had mine  at Le Pain Quotidien. Soft and moist with a subtle cinnamon and pumpkin flavor, these, like most of the baked goods at PQ, were pretty good. I liked the toasted pumpkin seeds which gave it a nice tiny bit of saltiness.

Pumpkin muffin from Le Pain Quotidien

Then there was Jamba Juice’s Pumpkin Smash smoothie which I discovered last year. I think they’ve changed the recipe because last fall’s version was thicker and even a brighter shade of yellow-orange, and this one seemed to have been diluted with milk. It’s still good, but I prefer last year’s which was like drinking a liquefied pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin smash at Jamba Juice

Even though I usually avoid Starbucks, they always have several pumpkin treats, including pumpkin spiced lattes, pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins, so I make exceptions during the fall. On a recent visit I opted for the calorie bomb pumpkin scone. (Those of you that don’t live in New York where they put the calorie count on everything, be glad. Ignorance is bliss.) The scone itself was a little dry and crumbly and the whole thing was covered in a shell of white frosting so this hasn’t been my favorite this season.

Pumpkin scone at Starbucks

Pumpkin really is everywhere, even in my booze! I’ve had a few pumpkin ales this fall but this one is from Grey Dog in Chelsea. To be honest though, I’m not really crazy about pumpkin beers. I can’t really taste the pumpkin and usually they just taste like darker, red beers which aren’t usually my type anyway.

Pumpkin ale at Grey Dog

One of my favorite pumpkin finds this season has been Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter. The jar says its good for rubbing on poultry as a marinade of sorts or as a jelly, which is how I used it. I smeared some cream cheese on English muffins and then topped them with a layer of this delicious, burnt orange jam for an absolute perfect pumpkin-themed breakfast. It’s a seasonal item so I might have to stock up on this now while it’s still around.

English muffins with cream cheese and Trader Joe's pumpkin butter

Perhaps one of the richest, most over-the-top sweet pumpkin eats I’ve had though is Momofuku Milk bar’s pumpkin cheesecake soft serve. The consistency was soft and creamy but was almost like cheesecake filling, which I for one, loved. I made this my lunch one day, and let me tell you, it was a damn fine lunch.

Pumpkin cheesecake at Momofuku Milk Bar

But it hasn’t all been sweet. Pumpkin even found itself as a main ingredient in a recent dinner entree at Klong, a cute little Thai place on St. Mark’s in the East Village. I ordered the Bangkok style pumpkin curry with chicken, a slightly spicy, soupy blend of coconut milk, curry, chicken, peppers, spices and my favorite of course, fat chunks of pumpkin. Once I dumped the white rice in it, it absorbed all the flavors of the curry and the coconut milk to make for a really delicious, non-sweet pumpkin dinner.

Bangkok style pumpkin curry at Klong in the East Village

And if you think even for one minute that I might be getting tired of all this pumpkin, well think again. I haven’t even gotten into my all time favorite pumpkin food, pumpkin pie. That will require its own post, and hopefully not too long from now. My days of neglectful blogging are behind me.