Pumpkin Spice Latte Milkshake

Thanksgiving. We hosted. The apartment. Turkey and bibimbap. Stuffing and japchae. The dual menu. Karen brought green bean casserole.

Therapy Tuesday with Dr. Kim. We talked about the parents — the two sets, the one living, the one gone, the one who became real after thirty years and the one who was real my whole life and is now gone. The work is the layered work.

Jisoo sent a photo of the dol the kids did for our visit last summer. The photo went on the fridge.

James and I had date night Friday. Indian restaurant on 45th. We ate too much. We sat in the car after talking about nothing for an hour. The marriage is the marriage.

Rain on the porch all afternoon Saturday. The Wallingford rain is its own weather. I sat with a book and a tea and did not move for two hours.

Sprint review at Amazon Friday. Two hours. I could have been on a podcast.

Yoga Tuesday morning at the studio. The forward fold released something I had been carrying in the shoulder. The mat is the mat.

The Capitol Hill apartment kitchen is small. We make it work.

Hana left a Lego on the kitchen floor. I stepped on it at two AM. Standard.

The newsletter went out Sunday morning. The opening sentence took an hour. The piece took five. The piece was what it needed to be.

Reading at night. A novel by a Korean-American writer about a family in 1990s LA. I underlined four sentences. The underlining is the marking-of-the-territory of the soul.

Sunday farmers market on Wallingford Avenue. The kabocha at the Asian vendor's stall. The shishito peppers. The brokered conversation. We bought too much. We always do.

I made coffee at seven. Hana ate cereal at seven-fifteen. Min wandered down at seven-twenty-five. James left for work at eight. The morning was the morning. The standard.

The kimchi crock was bubbling Saturday morning when I checked. The bubbling is the right bubbling. The fermentation knew what it was doing.

I sat at the kitchen counter at six AM with a notebook and a cup of green tea. Writing time before the house wakes. The pre-light hour is the only writing hour I trust.

A blog reader wrote about her own adoptee experience. We exchanged three emails this week.

The shiso on the south fence is fragrant and unruly. I brushed past it taking the compost out and the smell stopped me. The smell is the country. The smell is Jisoo's apartment.

David came over for Sunday dinner. He brought some tomatoes from the Bellevue garden.

My Korean is improving. Slowly. Painfully. Conversationally adequate now. I can argue about kimchi proportions in two languages, which is a milestone in any marriage between mother and daughter.

I texted Jisoo a photo of the kimchi in the new onggi pot. She replied with the thumb-up emoji and a Korean-language critique. The duality is the gift.

I read a thread on the Korean Adoptee subreddit Saturday. Some posts brought up old anger. Most are people figuring it out in real time. We are not unique. We are a community.

We always buy too much at the Sunday market — the kabocha alone filled half a tote bag — and somewhere between the farmers market haul and the kimchi crock bubbling on the counter and the six AM notebook hour, I needed something that felt like a small, easy joy. This milkshake is that. Pumpkin and espresso and warm spice in a glass: the kabocha energy, with no simmering required. It is the kind of thing you make for yourself at the kitchen counter on a Saturday when the rain is doing its Wallingford thing and the book is open and no one needs anything from you yet.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

2 cups vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh roasted kabocha)
2 shots espresso (about 1/4 cup), cooled
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar, to taste
Pinch of fine sea salt
Whipped cream, for topping
Cinnamon or extra pumpkin pie spice, for dusting

Instructions

Brew and cool espresso. Pull two shots of espresso and let them cool to room temperature, or chill briefly in the freezer for 5 minutes. Using warm espresso will melt the ice cream too quickly.
Combine ingredients. Add the vanilla ice cream, whole milk, pumpkin puree, cooled espresso, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and sea salt to a blender.
Blend until smooth. Blend on high for 20–30 seconds until fully combined and creamy. Taste and adjust sweetness with additional maple syrup if desired. For a thicker shake, add another scoop of ice cream; for a thinner consistency, add a splash more milk.
Pour and top. Divide the milkshake between two tall glasses. Top generously with whipped cream and dust with a pinch of pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon.
Serve immediately. These are best enjoyed right away while cold and frothy. A wide straw or a long spoon works best.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pumpkin Spice Latte Milkshake — The Kabocha That Started It All