happy halloween!

"It's a barn house."
"A bone house?"
"No, a barn house."
"A bird house?"
"No, a BARN house."
"Oh! A barn house. Made out of bones."
"Yes. It's the bones of a barn house that died."

pumpkin hunting, part three

I think all our energy this year definitely went to pre-Halloween celebrations, and now that Halloween is almost here I'm a little partied out. Focusing on food is so much more inspiring to me right now than costumes, but it might also be because on the costume-front, I definitely peaked last year. Sorry, Oscar, but you were there in utero at least.

So our final pumpkin hunt was at my parents house out in Sherwood, where they had grown their own little patch of gigantic Cinderella pumpkins. They're idea was to have this patch for carving for the grandkids, but then they decided to go out of town for all of October and I started telling them about how great Cinderella pumpkins are supposed to be for eating, and the story unfolded from there.

I wanted to experiment with cooking pumpkins and Sarah wanted to carve some pumpkins, so we put our plans together and threw a big harvest party. We practiced the weekend before with splitting open a pumpkin and baking it in the oven for homemade puree, and between the two of us we turned that puree (followed by the puree of several more pumpkins) into a table full of delights:

crackers with pumpkin herb cream cheese dip
pumpkin gougeres
pumpkin muffins
black bean pumpkin soup
fettuccine with pumpkin cream sauce
pumpkin gnocchi with sage butter sauce


There was also spiced apple cider and hot goat cheese and pork with cider and prunes that was cooked for hours and gobbled up nearly the moment it hit the table (and I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I was not the only one picking bits of well-done meat from the bowl of skimmed fat long after dinner was over).

Then we sat by the fire and rubbed our bellies. Or, that's what I did.

It was really good.

missing nana and papa

Nana and Papa have been on a month-long adventure to Vietnam since the end of September. We've checked out a few books from the library about Vietnam, and we've Skyped a few times, and we've talked a little bit about how since the earth is round (we saw a gigantic globe at OMSI) it is morning time for us when it is night time for Nana and Papa.

As we were leaving Sauvie Island a few weeks ago after the first pumpkin hunting, Lucy looked down over the river with the long grassy bank and a few docks, pointed and said: "That's Vietnam!"

It took a little while since we don't see them every day, and since some other exciting things--like Gramme and Grandpa and preschool--have happened this month, but about a week and a half ago Lucy really started to miss Nana and Papa. She found some stationary I have around and asked me to dictate a note, then she found a stamp and put it in the mailbox for the postman.

Nana and Papa are flying back today, so I can finally post her letter without ruining the surprise:

Dear Nana and Papa,

I miss you. Can you come back today? Do you want to come back now?

Do you really want to come back?

Please can you really really really come back now?

Nana and Papa, do you want to go on a trip with me to OMSI? Do you really want to go to OMSI with me?

Do you want to come to my house again with Titi? Do you really really really want to come back with me to Titi?

Santa Claus is going to come to your house, dear Nana and Papa.

I love Nana and Papa, I love Nana and Papa, I love Nana and Papa I wish that they were here because I miss them.

Do you love me, do you love Mama, do you love Daddy.

Lucy

what celebrity DO YOU look like?

pumpkin hunting, part two

After the weekend trip to Sauvie Island with neighbors and friends, we followed up later that week with a farm tour with Lucy's playschool class. Farmer Don gave them a talk about farming and growing vegetables, all of which one particular 4-year old in her class could identify by name (so that is who has been eating Lucy's share of Brussels sprouts!), then we took a wagon ride out to the sugar pumpkin field where each kid was allowed to pick two pumpkins to take home. Lucy wandered off to the far edges of the field by herself, and eventually a new friend Fern ran after her. She wasn't that interested in selecting pumpkins, so we helped her out.

Later, she and Fern and Cora had a great time splashing in the mud puddles, though Fern clearly showed the most dedication with her absolute glee after a full drenching in mud (Lucy, who had been lockstep with the celebration up until that point, looked on suspiciously as Fern's mom helped dry her off).

Then on on to a snack of pumpkin muffins and several rounds of chase, ring around the Rosie, and hide and seek. Then hugs (I'm sure gonna miss you, Cora! I'm sure gonna miss YOU, Fern!"), some more chasing, and some Oscar smiles, and we all made our way home.