If you haven’t been to Boston.com/bigpicture you are surely missing out!  Everyday The Boston Globe gathers exquisite pictures from across the planet and displays them in unique daily themes ranging from conflict in the Middle East to animal pictures.  The photographs are breathtaking and a must see.

Here is a sample of October 9 pictures titled Autumn Scences: It’s that time of year again, the Earth’s northern hemisphere is tipping away from the warmth of the Sun. Days in the north are getting cooler and shorter, leaves are changing, animals migrating and many harvests are underway. The wet summer in New England this year should make 2009 a banner year for brightly-colored fall foliage in the area. Collected here are a group of photographs of recent Autumn scenes around the northern hemisphere.

Click here to be taken to the full photo album.

From HolidayInsights.com

The Origin of Halloween:
Halloween’s roots can be traced back to Celtic culture in Ireland. According to their “Druid” religion, November 1st was New Years’ on their calendar. The celebration would begin on October 31st ,and last into the following day. The spirits of all who died in the prior year, would rise up and roam the earth on this night.  This is an evil night when spirits roamed the streets and villages. Lord Samhain, the lord of Darkness, would arrive in search of the spirits to take them to the underworld. Halloween as it is currently celebrated with costumes, trick or treat, and superstitions, takes from this Druid Holiday.
All Hallows Eve:
Halloween was commonly referred to as “All Hollows” Eve. It originated from the pagan holiday honoring the dead. The Roman Catholic Church created All Saints Day (also called Hallomas) on November 1st to honor Saints and All Souls Day on November 2and to honor and pray for the souls of the dead. These holidays were created by the church, in part to downplay the pagan holidays. Needless to say, it did not succeed. Halloween as we know it today, has grown from the ancient Druid Holiday. Along the way both fun, frights, and Satanic twists have been added to the mix.
A Really Big Show:
Halloween is second only to Christmas in spending. Consumers will spend over $2.5 Billion during Halloween. That’s a whole lot of candy, costumes, decorations, and party goods.
The First Jack O’Lantern:
The Irish carved Turnips and put coals or small candles inside. They were placed outside their homes on All Hallow’s Eve to ward off evil spirits. They were also known to use potatoes and Rutabagas.
Trick or Treating:
It is believed that the Irish began the tradition of Trick or Treating. In preparation for All Hallow’s Eve, Irish townsfolk would visit neighbors and ask for contributions of food for a feast in the town.

One of my favorite aspects of fall, besides the changing of the leaves and cooling of the temperature, is all of the seasonal flavors!  The warm smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin always brings a smile to my face.  It is that month or so before Starbucks brings out their red cups and before everyone is swamped with holiday-madness that we can truly enjoy the changing of seasons.  This year I decided to be a little more experimental with my canned pumpkin and when I had leftovers from baking pumpkin muffins I tried out an unusual recipe; Pumpkin Enchiladas!  They were delicious and quite easy to make.  Both recipes are also diet-friendly and come from food-guru Hungry Girl.  You just gotta try ‘em out!

Carmel Pudding Pumpkin Cupcakes

Pumpkin Enchiladas

Since we are in the middle of wine harvest season, I decided to do a little background research on this celebratory time of year.  Along with many romantic and intriguing stories about ancient Europeans and how they stumbled upon the creation of the delicious nectar we now call wine, I found interesting facts about harvests in present day.  Here is some of what I discovered from Wikipedia:

“The harvesting of wine grapes (Vintage) is one of the most crucial steps in the process of winemaking. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to produce. The weather can also shape the timetable of harvesting with the threat of heat, rain, hail, and frost which can damage the grapes and bring about various vine diseases. In addition to determining the time of the harvest, winemakers and vineyard owners must also determine whether to utilize hand pickers or mechanical harvesters. The harvest season typically falls between August & October in the Northern Hemisphere and February & April in the Southern Hemisphere. With various climate conditions, grape varieties, and wine styles the harvesting of grapes could happen in every month of the calendar year somewhere in the world. In some European wine regions the harvest time is known as vintage. In the New World it is often referred to as the crush.”
Cheers and Happy Harvest Season!

It’s not really a secret: Japan loves vending machines. So it’s not really surprising this newest (and quite unique) model is made in Nippon, too: A vending machine that lets you buy luxury wines through a pre-paid card. The machine is supposed to soften the negative effects the current recession has for wine lovers.

The vending machine is operated by the Goss Wine Bar in Ginza, Tokyo’s poshest neighborhood. All customers need to do is to insert said pre-paid card, select a bottle of wine among 24 different kinds and watch how the wine flows into their glasses. Reportedly, customers enjoy the fact that they can actually see the bottle before they drink the wine and that they can now taste expensive wines in smaller quantities.

The Goss Wine Bar claims the number of customers has risen by 20% in September (when compared to September 2008).

By Crunch Gear

Yesterday we received the online visitor report for WineWipes.com and came across some eye-opening stats!  Our highest percentage of visitors come from Beijing, New York, Hong Kong, Tampa, Berlin, Moscow, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Korea, Chicago and Taiwan.  Only four out of the top 12 locations are in the United States!  Hmmm but 99.8% of our orders are from the US.  So who are all of these visitors to WineWipes.com and why are they not placing orders??  Maybe they just like to look at our attractive Wine Wipes models or read our scintillating blog. ;)  Whatever the reason may be, I am delighted that Wine Wipes has sparked interest from people across the globe.  Cheers, Prost, Salud, Cin Cin, Serefe, Santé, Kippis!

The Epi-Log on Epicurious.com

by James Oliver Cury

Ingredients
What exactly is in pumpkin ale? Brewers can hand-cut (and roast) pumpkins and leave them in the mash as it ferments, or add pumpkin puree or even artificial pumpkin flavorings. Most breweries also add spices such as nutmeg, ginger, clove, allspice, and cinnamon. Note: No one makes pumpkin beer exclusively out of pumpkin any more. For a palatable beverage, you also need malt, hops, yeast, and water. Expect average potency: 5-6% ABV. And for those wonder: Is it always pumpkin ale? The answer is no. Though rare, beer makers have experimented with other beer styles. Witness: Lakefront Pumpkin Lager, Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter, and Fisherman’s Pumpkin Stout.

Flavor
What does it taste like? Some pumpkin beers feature subtle hints of the squash. Those are the good ones. Others taste like boozy pumpkin pie, often too sweet, cloying, and rich. The vast majority of companies play up the pumpkin-friendly spices more than anything else: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, caramel, and ginger. Tasters may also detect notes of molasses, caramel, earthiness, and hazelnut.

Availability
When are they sold in stores? Generally speaking, you won’t see any pumpkin ales until September/October; this is an autumnal beer. Bottles stay on store shelves through the holiday season (end of December).

Brands
Who makes pumpkin ales? The top ten brands on BeerAdvocate.com are:

1) Pumking Pumpkin Ale (Southern Tier Brewing Company)
2) Big Black Pumpkin Ale (Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery)
3) The Great Pumpkin Ale (Elysian Brewing Company)
4) Schlafly Pumpkin Ale (Saint Louis Brewery)
5) Kuhnhenn All Hallows Pumpkin Ale (Kuhnhenn Brewing Company)
6) Great Pumpkin Ale (Cambridge Brewing Company)
7) Punkin’ Ale Pumpkin Ale (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery)
Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale (Carolina Beer Company)
9) Night Owl Pumpkin Ale (Elysian Brewing Company)
10) Imperial Pumpkin Ale (Weyerbacher Brewing Co.)

Other popular pumpkin ale makers include Blue Moon (from Coors), Bison Organic, Post Road (from Brooklyn Brewery), Southampton, Smuttynose, Shipyard, Buffalo Bill, Mavericks, and Jack’s (from Anheuser-Busch).

This morning I received an email from Google Alerts (who send me emails when Borracha is mentioned in an online article).  I was excited to read more press for Wine Wipes, however when I clicked on the link and started scanning the article my excitement faded.  Instead of reading an article about the miraculous power of Wine Wipes, I was reading about a court case.  A question about semantics came up during a cross-examination when a witness said she was confused by the prosecutor’s use of the word “drunk.”  The native of Ecuador said that in Spanish there are two words to refer to being drunk.  Through a translator she explained that “borracha” is very drunk, while “mareda” can be interpreted to mean a little drunk.  So the next time you have a few drinks, think about whether you are borracha or mareda before you have another!