If you’re reading this and you’re in the United States… go this weekend to the nearest pumpkin patch and just enjoy the fact that it is there.
Pumpkins in France are not like pumpkins at home. They are greener. And thicker. Carving one would take far more skill and patience and a much longer, sharper knife than I have. They don’t use it to make pie or bread. They make good soup out of it. But I am yet to figure out what else one does with one of these mega-gourds.
Today I went to a market I hardly ever go to. And right there at the entrance were a variety of pumpkins… including the kind I recognize. They weren’t too big and the shapes weren’t so very good for carving. But I got two anyway. (One for us, one for the family where Kaitlyn was playing and eating lunch today after ballet class. It was the least I could do.)
At the produce store next door to that supermarket I found little tiny pumpkins. The kind you buy at Harris Teeter for 50 cents or a buck and use as decorations. I bought two. I hope to figure out how to get those two to stay on the big one and make it look like a Mickey Mouse pumpkin. I have until Saturday to figure it out. That’s when the ISE Halloween party is. I also have to figure out two adult costumes by then.
Before I can do that… I have to figure out what I’m going to make to take to school tomorrow. We’re supposed to bring in snacks that have something to do with a farm and with creativity. Don’t ask me why, I haven’t quite figured that part out yet. I found a recipe online for sweet potato haystacks. Do they have haystacks in France? Then again, at this point, do I really care?
I Googled French Farm Creativity, and came up with this link: http://www.ofac.org/agri_resources/AgAwarenessToolkitintro.php
I’m not sure it includes the word French, but they are having a farm creativity contest, if that helps.
Didn’t we do something fun and silly at UCSB? I can’t remember exactly what was involved, but I think we used a few stuffed-animal toys…Oh, now I remember, we had my silly blue-haired “Spaz” lion creature stabbing some other one (portraying Brutus stabbing Caesar) and we even captioned the window for those who were less well-read. Once again, I ask myself, “WHY?” And, thinking about it further, I now remember it was to “Beware the Ides of March.” So I am completely in the wrong season too! Ah, the memories!
how about bringing little snack-bags of candy-corn? Good Luck!