Oh My Gourd
One of the most time-sensitive tasks involved for Halloween preparations, excluding possibly making a costume, is carving pumpkins. It’s always so difficult to find the perfect space of free time that isn’t so distant from the appointed date that it would rot or become a feast for some lucky critter. I always try to hold off until about a week or so before hand, but I remember that last year was so crazed, I ended up carving my pumpkin the day before the holiday in a very rushed effort. Trying to prevent that from reoccuring again, I decided that it was now or never, and prepared myself for battle the other day.
This year, we bought our large orange gourds earlier in the month from Trader Joe’s for $5 a piece. I had wanted to pick them fresh from the local farm, but how could I pass up a deal like that, especially for such plump, solid pumpkins? Besides, I don’t think I would have been able to drag one of equal size all the way across the vast fields without dropping my prize and possibly crushing a toe.
Anyways, I had been planning to copy some sort of skull design unearthed from the abundant stencils found online, but after finally wrestling the stem and top free of my canvas, I discovered that my pumpkin had a thicker head than even our president. Believe me, I was quite impressed. No way was any intricate design going into my veggie of steel. Although carving, sculpting, or modeling of any sort are undoubtedly my weakest areas of craft, I decided to just slice in and wing it without any prepared stencil. So with absolutely zero skill or finesse whatsoever, the destruction began.
Hacking and sawing violently, pieces were were flyiing all over the kitchen. To my vague horror, I noticed the my dog was doing her part to clean up by eating the approximate 5 lbs of raw pumpkin I had extracted thus far. She’s definitely a very food-focused hound, but I never would have guessed that she would have any interest in consuming raw pumpkin! Still, thankful nonetheless for her help, it wasn’t long before my crude carving was completed.
Inspired by a passing comment made by my dad, my theme could be describe as something like “pumpkin torture.” It’s certainly no work of art, but it sure did help get my frustrations out and was a whole lot of fun at the same time. This poor guy should probably stock up on the asprin though, considering the massive headache and tooth ache he must be experiencing…
And of course, my mom has to show me up with her crazy artistic talent by replicating a design on the cover of a fall events pamplet from New York that she was impressed with. Hers did take more time though, so she’s certainly worked hard for her creation.
It’s still not entirely done though, as she plans on fully carving out the eyes completely before she’s ready to put it out on the front steps for trick -or-treaters to admire.
Oh, and lest I forget, one of the best parts about all of this pumpkin destruction has got to be the copious amount of seeds that they produced. 250 degrees on a lightly greased pan until crisp and browned, nothing store bought ever could beat that. The extra bits of pumpkin guts are really the tastiest part, after all.
Candied Corn
It’s sad to say, but I have yet to find any version of traditional candy corn sporting those day-glow florecent colors that aren’t contaminated with honey, egg whites, gelatin, or some noxious combination of the three. I can’t even find a recipe, so I would have no idea where to start if I were to attempt recreating these tiny sugar bullets in a more vegan friendly way.
Scrapping that thought for the time being, why not go for something still sweet but quite a bit healthier: Caramel corn. Corn is frequently used as a symbol of the fall, so I think that this is a perfectly acceptable substitue for a seasonal treat. I’m also much more comfortable with serving this to loved ones based on it’s natural appearance, as opposed to real candy which look as though they belong in some cartoonish nightmare, much less in one’s mouth.
A golden sheen covered each kernel lightly, so it wasn’t an overpowering sweetness as one would encounter with other Halloween candies. Perhaps the corn was even lighter than the usual standby, Cracker Jack, since this recipe used regular popping corn, (“butterfly”) whereas most prepopped, flavored corn is a different shape (“mushroom.”) The mushroom type is used because it pops in a more uniform, spherical fashion, which lends itself to more thorough coating and agressive treatment, since there are fewer irregular bits that stick out and could possibly be broken off. Yet another example of why quality tends to decrease as production demands increase.
I had never made caramel before this venture, so I was slightly dreading all of the inevitable scraping and scouring of pots that was sure to follow, making for an unending cleaning effort. You can imagine my delight when all of the excess candy just wiped away in seconds under hot water. Who knew it was so easy, and why hadn’t I tried this sooner?
The recipe I used was infact called “Cracker Jane” as a spin off of the afore mentioned snack, and is found in The Garden of Vegan. My biggest complaint is that in my opinion, there are a lot of instances where this book is very vague when it comes to the types of sweetener or starch you should use. I get that you could substitute basically whatever you want in most situations, but for this one in particular, I don’t think you would be quite as happy with the results if you used anything other than brown sugar as the dry sweetener. I made a couple other modifications as well, since I only had light corn syrup, which I used without any detrimental effects. Oh, and in my household, putting nuts into caramel corn is an act of sacriledge. For fear of being disowned, I left them out and found that I agree that they sometimes do get in the way.
How ever you chose to do it, I highly recomend you start popping your corn right now. Trust me, I made only a half batch to test it out, and found that the every last kernel had been devoured within a day.
Ballerina Bunny
All dressed up with no place to go, what’s a sweet dancing bunny to do with herself?
Well, I guess she could always do a bit of reading. Not exactly what I might have guessed, but with a head that size, I’m sure she’s got quite the intellect! Besides, I’m not sure that with such short, rounded legs she would be such a fantastic ballerina… But don’t tell her that. She just loves her blue tutu, wearing it around the house even when she’s only planning on sitting around to read the newspaper all day.
I wonder where she got such a vibrant blue flower to place behind her ear, though. Considering the time of year, it must have cost nearly as much as my monthly yarn bill! Trust me, that’s a truly formidable amount.
Autumn Leaves
As a newbie knitter oh so long ago, I wrestled with countless patterns before producing anything that was even half way identifiable as lace. Indeed, I ended up with many brand new scarves that were full of holes with no rhyme nor reason to them. Even attempting to read these strangely foreign diagrams were headache inducing. What were these odd hieroglyphics that everyone seemed so eager to use? I couldn’t understand for the life of me why the instructions for lace items are almost never written out in the abbreviations I was only just getting the hang of. Wouldn’t it be easier for the writers anyways?
What seemed like a never ending struggle when I was in the moment now feels like ancient history looking back on it now. I personally believe that my knitting ability has progressed a great deal since then, and I’m pretty darn proud of some of the things I’ve recently made. To demonstrate just how completely full-circle I’ve come, I I even prefer to use diagrams in general now, even for patterns that won’t produce lace. What I absolutely love about my Japanese amigurumi books is that they always use diagrams, so even if I’m unsure about a few kanji here and there, it’s a snap to figure out what to do next.
This particular scarf pictured is one that I attempted previously during my earlier knitting days, which failed miserably at the time. When I came across a delightfully autumnal muticolored yarn, I knew that it was destined to be a part of my second try. It was perfect in every way to me – a cozy scarf of falling leaves in gorgeous reds, browns, and greens, just like the colors our trees outside are displaying right now.
I’m very pleased to say that this time I was met with no problems making my way through the pattern. My fresh try was just in time, too, because this autumn is shaping up to be rather cold and windy. Although it still has holes since it’s still lace, it certainly provides comfort through the soft strands of cotton thread.
Sorry for the crummy detail picture, but I assure you that the lace really does look like falling leaves in person. I’m so happy to finally be capable of following such a skillfully written pattern and doing it proper justice.
When Pumpkin Meets Chickpea
There are some flavors that many could argue can go well with anything – Vanilla, chocolate, all the typical suspects. In my own opinion, I believe that there is one prominent culinary player that belongs in this category right up there with the best of them. Although rarely included, pumpkins deserve far more recognition in this area.
Autumn gives me an excuse to put pumpkin in just about everything, and I plan on taking full advantage of the opportunity before the season ends. I’ve already gone through three cans of it, and I’m just getting warmed up now! Oh, and just to clarify where I stand on the whole fresh vs. canned issue: I’ve heard a lot of argument that fresh is always better than canned, but please, give me a break here. With the vast quantities of puree necessary to satiate the pumpkin fiend in me, I would need a bigger car to accommodate their bulk when bringing them home. Not to mention the time, mess, cost… I do adore fresh pumpkin flesh and seeds, and plan to carve one of these lovely orange orbs for Halloween, but for baking and cooking, canned pumpkin is a joy in itself. [Even the experts agree with me!]
When I mentioned my desire to replicate the recipe I chanced upon at Slash-Food, I was met with a very skeptical response. Pumpkin hummus? Not what you might expect to find on grocery store shelves, but to me this sounded like a match made in heaven. I could never get enough of either of these individually, so mashed together I could only imagine it becoming a substance equally as addictive as crack.
The minute I saw a reasonable space of free time become available, I rushed to extricate my food processor from the jumble of assorted kitchen appliances strewn about in the cabinets. I was so excited to make my hummus, I was well on my way with everything out of cans and ready to go, when I discovered that there was no tahini in the house. Oops. Oh well, not a disaster – I just substituted a tablespoon of almond butter instead, to no ill effects. The clove of garlic I pulled from the bundle in the fridge appeared in my eyes to be puny in size, so I figured the more the merrier and threw three in to join the mix.
After hearing so many doubts about this particular invention, I found myself slightly reluctant to taste it when the moment of truth came. Oh the power of suggestion! Shaking off my momentary hesitation, I plunged my chunk of pita into the dip, and bit the bullet, so to speak. It did turn out very garlicy, but I wouldn’t say that’s at all a bad thing. To sum it all up though, all I can really say is… It’s simply delicious.
Such a lovely orange hue, isn’t it? I love this recipe so much, I think I may never buy commercial hummus again, and just make this version all year round.
Yes, it truly is that good.