You Don't Know Jack-O-Lantern!

With the coming of October, we decided it was also time to do a little pumpkin carving. To at least get warmed up for Halloween. Darcy had a little trouble with the guts of her pumpkin, but then discovered the handy trick of using an ice cream scoop to get them out. We later found out Martha Stewart recommends making your initial cut on the bottom of the pumpkin, to help get all the gunk out, and so you can light the candle and put the pumpkin over the top. Clever. We will be trying that out on our next go round.

Look at my precision and skill with the knife!

Darcy finished way before I did. The only think I can say is that I pulled out all of the gunk from Jeffreys' pumpkin before I started mine. But I will say Darcy did a fine job of carving the kitty pumpkin. The ears were my idea, though.

Once we got them lit, we were proud of our accomplishments. They have been standing guard outside our front door for a week and a half and are getting close to the stage known as "totally rotted." No matter. These were warm ups for the real deal. Another helpful tip we learned after we finished these was to rinse out the inside with a mixture of water and anti-bacterial soap to keep the pumpkin from rotting so soon. We will be trying that next time as well. Look at how scary my pumpkin turned out.

And Darcy's.


I did bake the pumpkin seeds, but I think I have a new technique after talking to a co-worker. Mine were great right out of the oven, but didn't stand up to an overnight stay. They got a little bit chewy. They still tasted ok, but weren't quite crispy enough. Again, this will be resolved on the next go round.