Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Pretty Lady's Pumpkin Party


Pointers for carving pumpkins:

Cut a large enough hole in the top so that you can get your hand in.

Draw the face on first, rather than attempting free-form.

Scoop out both the seeds, and enough flesh to make a pie, in order to create a thin enough shell that when you remove the skin in places, the light shines through.
Roasting seeds:
Wash thoroughly.

Put in pan @350 with some olive oil and salt.

Stir frequently.

Remove when golden brown.
Making pie:
Be careful to avoid mistaking the stringy stuff around the seeds for edible pumpkin.

Steam the pumpkin, don't boil; press out as much moisture as possible, and put through a food processor.

Use in pumpkin pie recipe instead of canned.
Good pumpkin party music:
Stephan Grappelli

Miles Davis

Buena Vista Social Club

'Amelie' soundtrack
Ad hoc meal:
Thai curry

Red wine

Apple pie

Halloween candy
Thank you to all who came, all who RSVP'd, and even those who were completely AWOL. The universe can be a cozy place, and the evening was perfect.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds lovely. We took the munchkin (in a $4, 5-minute bellydancer costume) trick or treating at the downtown bar-and-gallery strip, then spent the evening taking shots, playing spades, and watching some of the worst horror movies ever made. Good times, good times.
While downtown, however we witnessed the most fantastic costume *ever*. A seven-or-eight-year-old was dressed in prison orange, masked, and bound upright onto a handcart with black leather straps. I wish *my* dad had made me a Hannibal Lecter costume and then carted me around in it.

Anonymous said...

I spent most of the evening watching said munckin nearly kill herself running down curved steps to greet every tricker-treater ringing the door bell (which had to be stopped after the 13-14 year old crowd started to show up, each grabbing two fist fulls of candy from the treat bowl, instead of being polite). The splashy bath {I might as well have been IN there with her, so wet did I get} and lie down afterwards were also part of the holiday festivities for grandma! Ah, it was not that long ago that I was throwing Halloween parties for 100.... How things can change in a few short years! LOL.