smells of the season, or why i am in love with cinnamon.

(i actually wrote this AHEAD of my tuesday deadline. i promise! but then tuesday came and BLAM. brainfade. a little late, but nonetheless well-intentioned.)

in my writing about literature class, we're reading odes.  so, when thinking about what i wanted to talk about today, i thought maybe i would write an ode to what has to be one of my more perplexing, but delicious, pregnancy-induced fixations.

cinnamon.

i love everything that it is featured in. i dream of cinnamon rolls, convincing myself that i shouldn't be.  once i caved and musicboy and i ate cinnamon rolls for dinner. they were pretty stupendous.

but it goes beyond the obvious. anything that cinnamon seems like it would work well in, i am about it.  pumpkin bread.  cinnamon applesauce.  cinnamon streusel mini-wheats. apple pie yogurt.  cinnamon bun yogurt.  cinnamon bread.  soon, oatmeal cookies.

sweet mercy, it's a little ridiculous.

but it's not a bad fixation, in fact.  i did a little bit of research and found a few of the following fun facts.  did you know that cinnamon has the power to:

• lower LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff you don't want)?
• improve your memory?
• preserve food naturally?
• regulate blood sugar?
• heal arthritis pain?
• contains fiber, iron, and calcium?

suddenly, i'm feeling so much better about the cinnamon i've been inclined to include in my food of late.  perhaps it's my body's way of telling me that i need a little less sugar in my blood and a little more calcium in my diet.

or maybe i just like cinnamon because it's awesome. so, i didn't exactly write an ode to cinnamon, but a long and developed one exists in my heart.  there's nothing better than the smell of cinnamon baking, and there's nothing like tasting the hint of it in something that makes you feel warm inside.  it's a rather ridiculous thing to post about, but that's really what i've been thinking about: cinnamon and how much i love it.  (i also love cumin, garlic salt, and hot sauce, but that's a post for another day.)

tell me i'm not crazy. tell me you have a particular brand of affection for a spice, whatever it may be, that keeps on manifesting itself in your cooking.  what do you love about it?

or just tell me i'm crazy. either way, me and cinnamon will still be bffs forever.

(or at least for the next few months.)