Halloween 2013 I had big dreams for my pumpkin. My pumpkin was the perfect shade of orange and shaped with the right roundness to carve a big toothy smile. My intention was to carve it on Halloween afternoon, but my plans were diverted by a steady flow of giddy trick-or-treaters into the late evening. So I never got around to it.
I thought with Thanksgiving around the corner, I would transform my Halloween pumpkin into a Thanksgiving surprise. There are so many amazing sweet and savory foods to make with pumpkin, like soups, cheese balls, pies, breads, scones, bars, cookies, cheese cakes, etc. In addition, the pumpkin could be hallowed out and be made into a decorative centerpiece, a basket for flowers, or a vessel for fruit salad.
For one reason or another, cooking or decorating with the pumpkin never happened at Thanksgiving. Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s 2014, my husband’s birthday, Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Passover, Easter, Memorial Day all rolled around with still no pumpkin creation. In the middle of the summer, this pumpkin looks as fresh as the first day I brought it home from Ralph’s. It must have been pumped with preservatives, steroids, botox or something after sitting on my kitchen counter for the past eight months. Unfortunately at this point, I had no desire to eat anything made from it. I really hate to throw things away, but at least I was able to justify it by putting it in the “green” garbage bin.
This Halloween, every desk in the office had a mini-pumpkin, cheering up their cubicle. Because I work at the front desk in the lobby of Building and Safety, I was lucky enough to get two mini-pumpkins. Halloween came and went, and I promised myself that the “eight-month” lingering jack-o-lantern would not happen again. To get into the Thanksgiving spirit, I turned my pumpkin couple into a pilgrim and native American Indian, knowing that those pumpkins dressed up that way were extremely politically incorrect. So I took them home hoping to revisit the Thanksgiving creative cooking-decorating idea.
Here are pictures of my pumpkin creations.
So my CITY WATCH, DEAL/DISCOUNT of the week is to re-purpose your un-carved pumpkin into a Thanksgiving conversation piece for a great price, FREE!!
(Sue Helmy has plenty of tricks up her sleeve. She is currently providing superb concierge duties at the Building and Safety Division of the City of Beverly Hills. She is active in countless church and civic organizations and spends every minute she can spare dancing to the zumba beat.)
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