Halloween Prep

Well, we finally got our pumpkins and got around to getting them carved. I found there were no pumpkins around when I was looking for them 2+ weeks ago. Now, after we searched and searched, you can find them. They just wait to put out any pumpkins until the week of Halloween(we got an additional "normal pumpkin" as well). Of course Halloween isn't such a big deal here but they do celebrate a bit. In the end, we found a pumpkin at a market near our house. It wasn't your typical "Halloween Pumpkin". It is the type you buy to eat. It is a great pumpkin if you are interested in making pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin risotto, etc..Everyone thought we were crazy for wanting to buy an entire pumpkin, normally you just buy one little section of the eating pumpkins. I know our neighbors are probably all talking about the "crazy Americans" who have a vegetable sitting out on their patio like it is a decoration or something. Anyway, they just do things different than us here and we are used to it by now I guess. We hollowed out the inside of the pumpkin and it was such a beautiful color. I have my heart set on making pumpkin pie this year so I cooked what we cut out of the pumpkin and froze it for Thanksgiving in a few weeks. I have about enough I figured to make 5 pies. I searched everywhere last year at Thanksgiving before realizing they don't have pumpkin puree in the stores here and they have never even heard of pumpkin pie. I have had friends picking up odd ingredients for me wherever they make a trip home to the U.K. By now, I am ready to make a pie, one year later. We also of course had to roast the pumpkin seeds and they turned out great this year with only olive oil and garlic salt sprinkled on them. Believe it or not we got a few trick or treaters last year at our house, so we will see what happens this year. I will dress Nolan up as a Cubs Baseball Player. Happy Halloween!

Let the carving begin!




Nolan thought is was so cute that him and Meredith had the same type of "hat", even though his is really a bag..:)

Preparing seeds for oven

Nolan eating pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin cooking on stove, so pretty isn't it?