How to puree pumpkin – Throw it across the yard!
NaBloPoMo – Something you miss
No Mom, we didn’t break any windows, as evidence by your door still being intact and none of us getting into big trouble when you got home that day. :P
In fact, I believe that particular sugar pumpkin ended up in the pool actually….and this was just a funky angle of picture, making it look like it’s going the other direction.
There are a lot of things I miss, but this is a perfect example of something I wish I’d spent more time doing and still had access to doing now. Who else could I spend so much time throwing pumpkins with?
A few years ago, I discovered the wonders of pumpkin puree, so last year, instead of just grabbing a few pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns, my mom bought, oh, about 12 pumpkins for me. Awesome, no?
Unfortunately, opening up lots of pumpkins with a butcher knife isn’t quite as easy or fast as you might think. The year before, I did drop a couple pumpkins off our porch to get them cracked a bit, but that just wasn’t going to cut it last year.
Instead, I gathered the girls, mostly still in their pj’s, and we threw them all over the back patio area. Pumpkin seeds and guts were everywhere, including in the pool.
If you can’t tell, it was an absolute blast.
Even Buddy enjoyed it, stealing the pumpkin stems, chewing on them like bones, and attempting to bury them after playing fetch for a while.
After all the pumpkins were sufficiently broken, we separated all the seeds into a bowl and I spent the afternoon washing, baking, pureeing, and freezing pumpkin before roasting up all the seeds.
(Shockingly enough, that is *not* all the pictures I took. To see more mad pumpkin throwing skills, clicky here for the QC photo album.)
Mini-bears with mini-ears and mini-eyes in mini cups and…..
Awwww! Aren’t these adorable?? Cooler temperatures are coming and that means more excuses to bake.
The site I found them on is written in Japanese and doesn’t translate quite so well, but I can’t imagine these being too difficult to recreate yourself. Use your favorite bread recipe, roll into small balls, add some tiny ones for ears (if the bread isn’t too sticky, try using an egg wash to help keep them in place), and find some suitable seeds or spices for some eyes.
Double awww….they’d be so cute. I’m going to have to make some of these now. And maybe stick them in a bento box, ‘cause they’d be the perfect mini-size. Awww again. :P
When QJ moves – Part 10 – We heart our trash men <3
Part of the reason my move last year is getting so much blog loving is because it was a *big* move. We basically consolidated 3 different homes plus storage, all into one big house. It took weeks of preparation, planning, and packing….and a whole lot of boxes.
So even though we threw away a lot of stuff -before- the move, there was obviously a ton of stuff to be disposed of during and after the move as well.
Which meant our trash men had their work cut out for them the first couple weeks. Now they weren’t obligated to take anything beyond our first trashcan that could be picked up by the truck automatically.
But they did. They were awesome. And so while we were setting up a yard sale one morning and they came through to pick up their weekly mountain of trash, I sent one of the girls to go ask them what kind of cookies they liked. They said sugar, so the next week, I spent the evening making heart and truck-shaped cookies for them.
Now obviously I’m no SugarBelle and I didn’t take the time to learn how to flood and perfect. But a butter knife and ziploc bag of icing did fairly well, and I doubt the trash guys really cared what they looked like….they were just happy to get some cookies, hehe.
And in the process of showing my appreciation for their hard work, I also learned how to make hippo cookies.
Upper left cookie? Definite hippo.
Those were the results of trying to figure out just which cookie cutter lines I should follow in order to get something that resembled a truck. Upper left is a hippo. Or guinea pig even, ha. Bottom left has a bison head. Upper right? I have no idea what that miserable thing is, hehe.
Moral of the story: Make lots of extra cookies so half can go to the receiver and all the mistakes can be eaten.
Oh, and appreciate your trash people, mail men and women, etc. They may not always do things the way you like it, but when they do, make sure you tell them thanks….or use them as an excuse to make baked goods. :P
Recent Comments