The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

We have finally made it to the most wonderful time of year! Not Christmas, but PSL season! That’s right, it’s finally starting to feel like fall. 

Fall in Hong Kong is a somewhat fluid concept. There is not as much fall foliage or scarves or corn mazes as I would like, and yet we persevere. As soon as September 1st hits, I am in full-on fall mode! A few weeks ago I bought a fall outfit (that I wear even when the weather doesn’t quite match). September is when I start re-arranging the scarves in my room and pinning more pumpkin pancake recipes. And of course I start drinking PSLs, pumpkin spice lattes! 

PSLs are not the easiest to find in Hong Kong. In the past, I have resorted to making my own. Which is pretty fun BUT time-consuming. You have to source canned pumpkin. You can usually find it at the big international supermarkets, but some of them don’t offer it until November, so it’s a bit of a treasure hunt to find a can. Another issue is that it only takes a tablespoon of canned pumpkin to make a PSL so you need to make sure you have the time to make the remaining pumpkin into other things (bread, pancakes, custard) before it goes bad. 

Last year, when I visited my sister, she had a bunch of fresh pumpkins, so I used that to make PSLs. Unsurprisingly, that took even longer, but the results were good. This year, I have not found the time to make it at home but have bought several from Starbucks. I told all my students about my love of PSLs, and one student went out and bought one for the next lesson. Then when we were practicing making sentences with the word “disappointed,” her sentence was “I was disappointed when I tried the PSL drink.” She primarily drinks Americanos so I guess it makes sense that she was not a fan. 

While Starbucks PSLs are a cultural icon, I have to admit they are objectively not the best. Nostalgia is what keeps me going back to them. Recently, someone sent me an instagram post showing an independent cafe that makes their own PSLs! So yesterday I found myself hiking up a hill to get to this special cafe (why are these places always up some steep hill) and tried their homemade PSL with a cinnamon cardamom bun. The bun was slightly dry (but still good), and the PSL hit the spot. Fall vibes for the win! 

My cooking is slowly shifting to be more fall-like. I made beef bourguignon last week (that is one word I CANNOT ever remember how to spell) and I even tried buying a piece of sliced pumpkin at Kai Bo so I could make miso-baked pumpkin. After I got it home I realized it was a butternut squash that was labeled pumpkin. That got me wondering whether squash even has a different word in Cantonese. Another question for another day. It turns out the miso-baked butternut squash is just as good, and any gourd still is on theme. 

Although it’s not quite as cool as I would like, the temperature has gone down a few degrees, making my evening tram rides even more pleasant. Can we go a few degrees lower? Please? While I’m wishing, I’m staring out the window at my tree’s still-green leaves. If only they would get with the program and change colors, then my autumn paradise would be complete.