the ruined pumpkin

Danny and I took a little stroll across the street last week to pick out a pumpkin from our neighborhood pumpkin vendor. Danny picked up several pumpkins before settling on the one we would take home. I knew he had found The One when I heard him say, "Ahhhhhh...perfect!"

The first order of business was to squash the fly that had ridden that pumpkin all the way across the street and into my kitchen.


After a warm soapy bath to remove the fly germs and a little bit of dirt, we were ready to commence carving. I asked Danny if he wanted the jack-o-lantern to have a happy face or a scary face. He said scary. I drew the face and Dan started cutting. We got all the guts removed (with a lot of help from Cate) and the pumpkin pieces cut away to reveal the perfect scary face. When all was said and done, Danny looked a that jack-o-lantern and proclaimed,

"It's ruined! My pumpkin is all ruined!"

(I think it's a lot cuter the way he actually said it.
"It wooo-winned! My dunt-din is all wooo-winned!")

Well, obviously it's ruined, right? I mean, it started out like this...


then went a little something like this...


and this...


and this...


then this...


and this...


and finally this...


and then ended up absolutely, positively, totally...

Ruined.

But the roasted seeds were divine! I let Dan have a taste and he said, "They're alright." After that comment I knew he didn't appreciate them the way I do. I ate the rest all by myself. Seeds don't have calories, right?

And here's a tasty tip for any of you roasted pumpkin seed lovers, like myself. Wash off all the gunk, spread them out on a cookie sheet and let them dry for 24 hours (or overnight if you just can't wait). Put the dry seeds into a bowl with a few teaspoons of melted butter. Spread them back out on the cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt. I roasted mine at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes. I just kept watching them to see when they were as brown as I wanted them to be.

Here's the best part (the actual tasty tip). After you take them out of the oven, sprinkle some sugar on top. Not too much. They were so good. Salty, sweet and crunchy. The perfect combination.