Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween treats

This was my mom's very first pumpkin carving experience. It was pretty adorable.


The happy one is mom's.

Every October between the 5th and 10th grades, my friend Maile and I would carve pumpkins. Her mom would take us to a patch on a Saturday, pick out a pumpkin, go back to her apartment and set up shop. Newspaper on the kitchen table and a couple of blunt knives... We got to be pretty good at carving teeth and circles by year four. I've since lost touch with my friend, and haven't carved a pumpkin since, yet have had the hankering to many times.

In the past month, the carving itch was especially prevalent. I decided we needed to make up for our pathetic Halloween performance from last year: One year ago today, we were moving into our new house, moving trucks in the driveway, big dudes lugging furniture in the front door and everything. Before I remembered to turn off the light over the front door, the doorbell rang and two adorable kids simultaneously opened their bags and chimed, "Trick or treat!" Trick, I guess... our kitchen was completely empty and the only meal I'd eaten in the house was a salad from Chick-Fil-A (which I ate sitting on the floor as we had no furniture yet). I had no choice but to apologize profusely and tried to make up for it by telling them they were cute. I had visions of the kids crying to their parents and the parents passing on the word that we suck.

This year I'm determined to make our house a Halloween hot spot. And by that I mean people won't be pointing at our house and telling their neighbors, "They're mean to children." Mom and I went pumpkin shopping at a patch on a church yard this past Sunday, and bought two big pumpkins, one medium pumpkin, three tiny pumpkins and a funny squash that looks like something that gnomes would choose to live in. I picked one of the big ones for me to carve and the medium one for my mom.

Our Halloween treats? We saved the pumpkin seeds and roasted them in a little butter and salt. 300F in the oven for about 45 minutes did the trick. Mmmmmm...