Harvesting Pumpkins

This past weekend was the last weekend the Midtown Farmer's Market would be open, so Andy and I thought we'd swing by and see what we could see. We rode our bikes over since it was a wonderful day. Once there we saw lots of delightful foods available, so we made some purchases and we rode home with 2 pumpkins, a bunch of potatoes, pork chops, carrots and lettuce.

This is what Andy did with his pumpkin. He got lots of compliments from trick or treaters.

I used a bigger knife on my pumpkin.

Earlier this fall I decided I wanted to make something with pumpkin from a real pumpkin, not out of can. So today was the day and I made a pumpkin pie! It was an interesting experience, especially since our cheap blender sucks and a food processor would have worked a million times better for pureeing the pumpkin stuff.

But first I had cut open the pumpkin, which was a task. The directions in the old version of The Joy of Cooking instruct you to "hack" the pumpkin into 4 inch pieces. Hack I did. Next I roasted the hacked up pieces for a good while. Then I scraped off the soft flesh and then "processed" it so it wouldn't be stringy. This is me scraping my roasted pumpkin pieces.

After the frustrating experience with the blender, everything else worked out pretty well. The pumpkin pie turned out great! Though I wouldn't recommend listening to how The Joy of Cooking tells you to check how it's done, sticking a knife in the center would work much better.

This is what I came up with today after an afternoon spent hacking, scraping, whisking and baking. On the bottom is the pumpkin pie, above that is extra puree for pumpkin muffins and on top pumpkin seeds to be roasted later.

But you can't eat pumpkin pie without whipped cream! We didn't have any cool whip on hand, but I had leftover heavy whipping cream from the pie, so I whipped up some whip cream. It's fast, easy and delicious!

Here's the finished product (with a bite missing)!

Overall, my making a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin experience was a lot of fun and I got to try out some new things. I learned more about baking and took the first tentative step to cooking with winter squash. Also, I learned that it's helpful to have the right tools in the kitchen. Sometimes improvising with what you have works well, like using coffee filters to strain the pumpkin puree instead of cheesecloth. But other times, a blender just doesn't do the trick.

I Love Fall!

I have to admit, fall is wonderful. It is the most wonderful season of the year. And I'm really happy that it's fall right now. I should specify, I love fall in Minnesota. I'm sure there are other places that have wonderful fall seasons; however, I have not experienced them. Fall in Dublin was not the spectacular event that it is here. So, in coming back, I've fallen in love with fall all over again.

First of all, I like sweaters. And I like layering. I like putting clothes on and being very clothed. In that sense, summer is bad because it's horridly hot and the goal is to wear as little as possible while still looking publicly acceptable. Some people fail at this. I fail in that I never know what to wear, so at times I end up too hot or too cold. This doesn't happen to me much in fall, mainly due to sweaters.

I'm going to admit my dorkiness before this next reason, I know what it sounds like and I've accepted that. Another reason I like fall is because I like school. I like starting new classes, buying new books and supplies, I like the feeling of hopefulness at the start of new classes.

That brings me to the next reason, fall is a symbol of newness. This may be counter intuitive, but generally it's the start of a new (academic) year. New classes/school, new clothes, new schedule, possibly a new job. This year it also meant a new house, in a new neighborhood, and a new way of living.

Fall is also a transition into the holiday season and my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. How can you be unhappy about that? Fall is just a great time of year and every time I go outside, I'm excited that it's fall.

Also, here are some fall fun time pictures:

Andy and I enjoying the company of Goldy the Gopher at the Como cookout.

Andy and I went pumpkin picking, and to get our $2 worth of entry fees, we picked dried corn off the ground and fed some pigs. They were quite happy about the deal.

Andy made friends with an adorable baby cow.

On the hay ride around the orchard.

Andy's pumpkin! We carved them the next day with Tony and Laura and had quite the time.