Día de Muertos brings many delights to the senses: the bright orange hues of marigolds filling the streets; the unmistakable scent of freshly baked pan de muerto as we step into a bakery. But the Day of the Dead also brings the comforting softness and many iterations of tamales – a treat that many of us quickly associate with Día de la Candelaria in February, but which are also a tradition of this beloved fall holiday.

In early fall, Oaxaca’s landscapes are a study in green. Walking through the city’s colonial center, tall trees’ crowns explode in verdant glory, while vistas in the countryside are even more impressive, boasting an array of variegated grasses, deeply colored agaves, and, of course, stalk upon stalk of corn, heavy with plenty of ears of the country’s most prized aliment. It’s the end of the rainy season here in this southwestern state, the humid period that typically runs from June until October. And after a disappointingly dry season last year, farmers and home growers across the region are celebrating the success of their milpa, the ancient, complementary agricultural system of corn, beans, squashes, and wild and domesticated greens growing all together in interdependent and symbiotic harmony.

“Caliente!” Juan calls out, and we all duck to avoid the steaming hot pan as it floats across the kitchen. He holds one side with a folded up towel, the other with a pair of pliers. Kitchen might be a bit of a misnomer. The small stall sits on the sidewalk, with a temporary tin roof overhead and brand new white tarps tied tightly to the back to protect against Mexico City’s afternoon thunderstorms. Each day for the three weeks leading up to Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead holiday, Tito Garcia, the stand’s owner, and the rest of the crew, will make hundreds of pan de muerto sweet rolls, as part of the Jamaica Market’s holiday romería.

While Americans celebrate Halloween this week with M&Ms and Milk Duds, in Catalonia this time of the year is marked with a different, more sophisticated, kind of sweet. The small, round marzipan cookies called panellets are, along with roasted chestnuts and sweet wine, the traditional fare of All Saints’ Day, or Tots Sants in Catalan.

Award-winning baker and author Dorie Greenspan shares her love of simple, satisfying cakes and the Paris pastry shop that inspired her new Moko Cake recipe.