48 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY NOVEMBER 28-DECEMBER 4, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com CHILL Here’s a secret about pumpkin: It’s a squash that tastes like squash—earthy and subtly sweet. All the flavors we associate with it, dubbed as “pumpkin spice,” have zero intrinsic relationship to pumpkin. You probably keep cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves year-round, and all may appear in recipes for any variety of non-pumpkin-related foods. When these spices appear in drinkable form, it likewise has nothing to do with pumpkin—it’s generally in the form of a syrup comprising these spices. That does not stop one, however, from associating the aroma with that of pumpkin—when a barista presents a beautifully frothed pumpkin spice latte at The Power Plant, with a pumpkin drawn in the foam, the immediate reaction is: It smells like pumpkin. Correction: It smells like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, the same aromatic blend that goes in pumpkin pie. Fortunately this pumpkin spice latte is not too cloyingly sweet, and the bitterness of the espresso tempers the syrup. (There is an option to add cinnamon whipped cream.) On a chilly fall day, with thick fog mimicking rain, it’s cozy inside the Power Plant, where the tables are nestled in the plant shop, resembling a greenhouse with towering ficus. At a nearby table, a young marine biologist overhears two others talking about eelgrass restoration and sidles up to trade contact information—just a regular afternoon in Moss Landing, along with the scent of pumpkin pie in the air. The Power Plant, 7990 Highway 1, Moss Landing. thepowerplant.store. Pumpkin Power Whether you like it or not, ’tis the season for pumpkin spice lattes. By Sara Rubin SEND IDEAS TO: chill@montereycountynow.com SARA RUBIN Voted BEST Appetizer/Small Plates ’24 VALIDATED PARKING 136 OLIVIER ST. MONTEREY NEAR OLD FISHERMAN’S WHARF (831) 644-9007 WWW.BENIHANA.COM OPEN DAILY FOR LUNCH AND DINNER EXPERIENCE THE ORIGINAL ’24 Best Italian Restaurant FREE WIFI Dolce Mornings Sat & Sun 8am-2pm Featuring Captain + Stoker Coffee & Ad Astra Bakery Open Daily. Lunch 11:30-2pm. Dinner 5-9pm 831-324-4282 110 Central Ave, Pacific Grove www.ilvecchiorestaurant.com Celebrate the true spirit of the holiday season The Free Annual Thanksgiving Dinner presented by the Community Dinner Organization This year we will be handing out Hot Meals To Go THANKSGIVING DAY Thursday, November 28, 2024 from 12pm to 2pm at the Monterey County Fairgrounds In front of the Monterey Room. Next to the administration office on Fairgrounds Road. To volunteer to help prepare the dinner, please call Tiffany 233-2780 between 9am and 7pm We will also be delivering meals to those who can’t attend. For more information, to donate food items and money, and for meal deliveries please call Rich - 757-5709 or Trish – 238-1460 Happy Holidays to Everyone!
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