I Am SOOO Very Thankful

"Hey Wendy, what are you doing with that pumpkin? It's not Halloween anymore, it's Thanksgiving!"


Well, I'll tell you.

First I'm going to cut the top off and scoop out the seeds.

Ah, after all these years of holidays, the inside of a pumpkin is still a mysterious and wondrous thing.

Mango thinks so, too and doesn't quite trust it.

I found that using an ice cream scoop works really well for scooping out the seeds, but there's also something nice about sticking your hand up the ass of a pumpkin and just pulling the gunk out.

Now we're going to put some stuff in there and put the lid back on. (Those are chopped apples in the measuring cup.)


These next several steps may not apply to every kitchen, but I'll include them anyway:

1. Put the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and attempt to carefully jam it in the oven with your bare hands.
2. Wonder why it won't go in and what that funny, almost pleasant burning aroma is. (No, it's not me.)
3. Realize that the stem of the pumpkin is too big for the oven, and is getting caught on the heating coils.
4. Try moving the pan and pumpkin around to various places.
5. Curse profusely and grab some oven mitts.
6. Don't panic when you shove your hand in an oven mitt and realize a mouse has filled it with your bird's food pellets. Just tough it out - you can dump them out later.
7. Pull the pan out of the oven, slam the door, and run outside for the giant garden loppers.
8. Cut the hell out of the pumpkin stem, jam it in the oven, slam the door.
9. Pour bird pellets out of oven mitt.
10. Set timer.

Another helpful kitchen tip: Don't, in a fit of cleaning frenzy, put all your potholders in the laundry and THEN start cooking dinner. You might actually need those.

And here she is coming out of the oven. In a rare fit of intelligence, it occured to me to mark the top so I can put it back on correctly while checking for "doneness" in a hot oven.



A healthy dab (or three) of sour cream will top it off nicely.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm most thankful of all that each and every one of you is in my life, even if you're not here now to share my pumpkin casserole. I'm serving it again at Christmas so come on over if you want some!

(P.S. If anyone would like the recipe, just email me. I got it from one of those Church cookbooks and I don't know if the poor woman who submitted it would want her name and recipe posted on the internet.)

First

The First Snow of the season fell last night - yay!

And my flag froze mid-wave! Isn't that awesome?

Someone forwarded me this and I had to share because a lot of them are SO TRUE.

(Y'all know how the internet is - I don't know if Jeff Foxworthy actually wrote this, but I like him, so we'll give him credit anyway.)

Jeff Foxworthy on Upstate NY

If you consider it a sport to sit in an ice hut all day long with a rod and reel just to put perch in your freezer.. you might live in Upstate NY.

If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Oswego is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Upstate NY.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Upstate NY.

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Upstate NY.

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Upstate NY; because you're all so damn friendly.

If you have ever worn shorts, sunglasses and a parka at the same time, you might live in Upstate NY.

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, or if you are in church and your priest or minister asks you to pray for the Bills, and wants to get you all home for 1 p.m. Kickoff you might live in Upstate NY.

If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Upstate NY.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE Upstate NY'er when:

1. "Vacation" means going over to your cabin just 30 minutes away for the weekend.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them.
7. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
8. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
9. You know all 4 seasons: almost-fall, winter, still-winter and road construction.
10. Down south to you means ERIE, PA.
11. You find '0' degrees "a little chilly."
12. You go out for a fish fry every Friday, Prime Rib on Saturday and bingo every Wednesday.
13. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
14. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
15. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Upstate NY friends!