We went to a pumpkin carving barbeque last night. Some friends invited us to share in their wealth of gourds and food and we brought wine and cheese. S had picked out two pumpkins at the store and we brought those along, too. One was softball-sized, the other was the classic Legend of Sleepy Hollow pumpkin, almost perfectly round, big twisty stem.
After gorging ourselves on good food, including freshly-picked chanterelle mushrooms from out Fall Creek grilled with onions and pork ribs, the four of us picked out our carving knives and big spoons and tackled our orange globes.
The weather was overcast but eerily warm; yesterday saw a record high, and we were all plenty warm wielding our knives outside on the red wood porch, screened from the street by the dark and the ancient lilac bushes. At one point a raccoon crept up the steps and snatched a handful of cat food, much to everyone’s surprise. The cat seemed unconcerned but D stood up and stomped. He doesn’t love raccoons. Neither does S. They killed his rabbit when he was a boy.
S, as usual, was finished first with his carving creation. He made a Cyclops out of the tiny pumpkin. Everyone else sat at the table on the porch; I sat on the porch because I am much more comfortable when I don’t have to worry about shaking tables, sharp knives, and ten-pound squashes. Also I wanted to save the pumpkin seeds, and nobody else cared, so I did double duty picking seeds from the refuse bucket while carving on my pumpkin.
I made arched eyebrows, evil mischievous eyes, two little holes for the nose and an enormous crooked toothless grin. My pumpkin looked like he knew something wicked cool, and the joke is on you.
At the end of the night, after two bottles of red wine and a great sampling of cheese, we had a total of seven pumpkins lined up on the steps. We had a cat, a wicked grin, a hobgoblin, a Cyclops, a clown, a scary toothy topless head and a noseless goggle-eyed monster with ears.
S and I left with a bucket of pumpkin seeds and a big brown bag of chanterelle mushrooms, oh yes. I baked the seeds last night, and have been snacking on them all day. Tonight is dance class but I’ll have time to sauté and savor some mushrooms. Tomorrow night I intend to make soup from what remains.
After gorging ourselves on good food, including freshly-picked chanterelle mushrooms from out Fall Creek grilled with onions and pork ribs, the four of us picked out our carving knives and big spoons and tackled our orange globes.
The weather was overcast but eerily warm; yesterday saw a record high, and we were all plenty warm wielding our knives outside on the red wood porch, screened from the street by the dark and the ancient lilac bushes. At one point a raccoon crept up the steps and snatched a handful of cat food, much to everyone’s surprise. The cat seemed unconcerned but D stood up and stomped. He doesn’t love raccoons. Neither does S. They killed his rabbit when he was a boy.
S, as usual, was finished first with his carving creation. He made a Cyclops out of the tiny pumpkin. Everyone else sat at the table on the porch; I sat on the porch because I am much more comfortable when I don’t have to worry about shaking tables, sharp knives, and ten-pound squashes. Also I wanted to save the pumpkin seeds, and nobody else cared, so I did double duty picking seeds from the refuse bucket while carving on my pumpkin.
I made arched eyebrows, evil mischievous eyes, two little holes for the nose and an enormous crooked toothless grin. My pumpkin looked like he knew something wicked cool, and the joke is on you.
At the end of the night, after two bottles of red wine and a great sampling of cheese, we had a total of seven pumpkins lined up on the steps. We had a cat, a wicked grin, a hobgoblin, a Cyclops, a clown, a scary toothy topless head and a noseless goggle-eyed monster with ears.
S and I left with a bucket of pumpkin seeds and a big brown bag of chanterelle mushrooms, oh yes. I baked the seeds last night, and have been snacking on them all day. Tonight is dance class but I’ll have time to sauté and savor some mushrooms. Tomorrow night I intend to make soup from what remains.
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