Holiday Pumpkins & Halloween Treats

This week, two reviews (to make up for my missed week)!

If you meet me, it will probably not take you long to learn the following:

• I hate the color orange
• I hate pumpkin pie spices
• I adore autumn and all of its decorating possibilities

I always look forward to buying pumpkins and re-decorating my mantel and living room for fall.  I love the idea of cooking warm, hearty foods suitable for cold days.  I try to never be thwarted by the fact that my good china never quite matches my Thanksgiving table decor.  I always want to be in charge of Thanksgiving table decor.  I have many Halloween candle holders.

Mom's apartment - 2009?  2010?

Given this love-hate relationship, I find it a bit odd that I own not one, but two books that feature all things pumpkin-related.  This week we look at two books published in 1998:  Holiday Pumpkins and Halloween Treats.

Holiday Pumpkins, by Georgiane Brennan and Jennifer Barry begins with a chapter about pumpkin basics:  which pumpkins are best to eat, how to grow and store pumpkins, how to cook and purée pumpkin, and how to prepare pumpkin blossoms (hint:  watch out for hidden bugs).   The authors say that pumpkin adds needed moisture to baked goods, and can take on the flavours of most things it's cooked with.

The chapters alternate between pumpkin recipes and pumpkin crafts and decor.  Most of the savory recipes sound tasty:  honey grilled pumpkin slices, pumpkin pomegranate beef stew, etc.  After I bought the book way back when, I was determined to make pumpkin pasta with baby bok choi and prosciutto only to be defeated when I couldn't find pre-made pumpkin pasta.  Someday I will try to make pasta at home, but it always sounds like a huge amount of work.  Maybe pumpkin pasta is worth it...

The vast majority of pumpkin desserts are not for me.  Inevitably, pumpkin desserts, except for some versions of pumpkin pie, ironically enough, contain cloves, nutmeg, allspice, etc., all spices I hate (it's a family trait).  These recipes are easy enough to skip.  And though I like the crafts and decor chapters telling me how to make candle holders out of mini pumpkins and soup bowls out of medium pumpkins, it turns out I have glass pumpkin candle holders, ceramic pumpkin soup bowls, pumpkin-shaped salt and pepper shakers, and on and on.  I'm all set.

I love how this book is more about autumn than Halloween.  The recipes seem warm and hearty, and within my skillset.  Maybe next year is the year of pumpkin pasta.  Who's in?

Halloween Treats by Donata Maggipinto, though it has some recipes for alcoholic drinks, is really aimed at family activities and cooking projects.  It also combines crafts and recipes, but I found it disconcerting that the chapters randomly combined food and non-food projects, so that I was almost surprised to be reading about paper mâché Halloween treat bowls right after a bat-shaped sugar cookie recipe.  I like the format of alternating chapters better, to keep my brain organized.  The book also doesn't always have the picture of a dish or item near the recipe or instructions.  Sometimes I found myself guessing at what I was looking at.

Some treats I would like to try someday include rolled marshmallows stamped with a mini ghost cookie cutters, warm red cabbage slaw with apples, and an entire dinner of only orange and black food.  I attended an orange and black dinner once and it was great fun!

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes?  How do you decorate for autumn?

Next week:  A Proper Tea

Valentine's past...

Last February, I was very much looking forward to Valentine’s Day with my sweetie.  We were newly engaged, and this would be our first February 14^th together.  But on February 13^th, I had jury duty…

I’m called for jury duty regular as clockwork in Philadelphia County.  And this time I went in hoping for a quiet day and a nice lunch at Reading Terminal.  But no.  After sitting for most of the morning, I got called up for a panel.  And after more sitting, maybe interspersed with lunch, I got picked for a jury.  I was so angry.  Not dismayed, but actively furious.  I was on a jury once, and I hated it.  I felt that I was the one being held prisoner and forced to serve against my will.  I grumbled a lot and was extremely, stupidly resentful.

The next day, Valentine’s Day, I reported at the appointed hour and proceeded to wait with only a couple of others while supposedly, jury selection continued.  I sat, prepared for a long, horrid day, with only worse days to come.  And then…

Miracles!!!  Someone official came in and said that one of the attorneys was ill and they had to postpone the case.  We were released.  Free!!!  On Valentine’s Day! 

The fairy tale had a happy ending.  Home I flew, and shortly after came my sweetie, who had the afternoon off!!!  Instead of being cooped up in a jury room, I took a walk with the man I love and sat eating ice cream in the February sun.  Perfect.

This year we will cook and share a nice dinner, go to bed early, and read to each other with a fuzzy kitty cat at our feet.  Likewise perfect.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Reasons to celebrate...

The other day I received an email asking me how I felt about July 4th and whether it was a holiday I actually observed in any way other than getting a day off from work. To me, these days, July 4th is a session at dance camp - a wonderful weekend of dancing and music and hanging out with friends. It may or may not contain the date 7/4. It’s also a way to avoid crowds that swarm downtown Philadelphia and displays of fireworks. (Yes, fireworks are pretty and I love the visual part, but just go to the movies with me sometime and you’ll soon see how I feel about loud, sudden noises. I am regularly mocked for this.)

This exchange led to a discussion of what holidays or annual events we celebrate every year. Are they set or movable days? Are they mere observances noted on your calendar, or do they require certain activities?

My personal list of holidays is kind of short:

January: Twelfth Night, the Birthday of The King
February: the Day of Strange Luck, Valentine’s Day
March: March 4th (the only day of the year that is also a command to go forward), Purim/Lesser Moose Day, Passover (which might be in April)
April: Passover (see above)
May: May Day, Cinco de Mayo/Much Lesser Moose Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day (as the start of summer)
June: My birthday!!
September: Labor Day (as the end of summer), Rosh Hashannah (which could be in October), Yom Kippur (ditto)
October: Halloween (I will be home to give out candy one of these years!)
November: Thanksgiving, Greater Moose Day
December: Philadelphia Playford Ball (It’s an event, but it might as well be a holiday), Chanukah, New Year’s/Hogmanay

I could go on to list all of the events I go to every year, birthdays I celebrate, etc., but sticking to holidays, what am I missing? What days are on your personal list of holidays?

Warm hearts, warm groundhogs...

(Jenny once led the GCD First Saturday dance in February under the title Warm Hearts. But it fell on February 2nd, and so...)

Phil saw his shadow. Again. Big shock. The take poor Phil from his nice home in the town library, shove him in a cold, dark place, surround him with strangers and flash bulbs. Heck, you'd turn the other way too, shadow or no.

But Phil is likely back home among the books, warm and happy to be left alone for another year.

Taking the day...

Maybe people in the neighborhood are longing for a white Christmas, but I, for one needed this first truly sunny day we've had in forever.

Christmas day, and moreso Christmas Eve used to be very hard for me as a differently religious person. I always have this notion that the whole world, or the whole of my immediate world anyway, are off somewhere having a grand time with trees and presents and the romantic vision shown in movies and books. But maybe as life seems to get more hectic, I need Christmas day as a day of rest, a day free of obligation, when the only outings are to and with friends because everthing else is closed. And here and there I get the sense that for some, Christmas is no different than my holidays with family traditions and to-do, cooking, and company. It's just that more people I know are doing it all at once.

Last night I finished a book and was well into my second DVD when George called to say he had skipped out on Christmas Eve family things and he was done making cookies, so I should come over, which I did. This morning I slept in, did a laundry, continued the process of scrubbing the kitchen to de-oil it, puttered. And now there's a turkey in my oven for the Christmas dinner I'm going to later on, and hazelnuts to toast, oh, and maybe another movie to watch... Oh, and parties on the weekend to look forward to, and hopefully sunny days, and a peaceful 2009 to come.

An excerpt from my favorite poem for this time of year:

"As promise wakens in the sleeping land
They carol, feast, and dearly love their friends.
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year."

-Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day

Be merry and bright, and to quote another song title, "Happy Whatever You're Having."