Halloween (Post #1 of Many)

It's here! It's here! I have like, 4 other blog posts in the works that are waiting for various tidbits of wit/photographic evidence before I feel them publishable, but they shall have to wait. First and foremost in my heart, and therefore priorities, is this magnificent season.

IT'S HALLOWEEN!

I'm gearing up for our annual party, putting together my costume (which I'm not sure if I should reveal until after Nadia reveals hers), and decorating my house. Beyond that, I'm also joining in on the pumpkin craze. 

Our Witchy Pumpkin - a.k.a. Bertha was one of the biggest pumpkins I have ever purchased. And I'm basically a pumpkin connoisseur . She was selected for a delicious, delicious fate.

First we went at it with a regular steak knife, which I've always found to be the best utensil (again, connoisseur)

Then Jordan said "I wish we had an electric knife!", and I remembered.

We did. Hooray for wedding presents!

....but the electric knife started overheating. So we found a more serrated knife.

Just look at that pumpkin flesh ripper. Once again, hooray for wedding presents!

We cut it into quarters,

split them apart, 

and put them in the oven to roast!

Then we peeled off the skin,

cut it into cubes, 

and pureed the pants off of 'em!
(to be fair, they weren't wearing pants to begin with. So it was fairly easy to do).

Big Bertha, reduced to manageable portions

"Manageable" in the sense that it still takes up 1/3 of our freezer

This should be enough pumpkin to last us through the year! Or at least enough to get us through the rest of the season. Or the week... 

I have a new favorite pumpkin recipe, however, so it may go even sooner than that. These Pumpkin Blondies are fantastic! I'm also excited to try out a Pumpkin Fudge recipe that was sent to me by my wonderful Grandma. And maybe now I'll get to plow through the cookbook of all pumpkin recipes she gave me last year. Our favorites are the more savory meals, like this Pumpkin Mac 'n Cheese and our favorite, ever-changing Pumpkin Soup recipe.

I'm actually pretty proud of myself! So far we've only bought 3 pumpkins for the season. Which for me is actually fairly limited. We'll see what the total is at the end of the month!

Let me once again say that while there are so many wonderful things about married life versus single life, this season once again reminds me that high up on the list is having my own fridge. This party has been such a hassle every year when I've had to borrow space from roommates. Now the whole fridge is all mine and everything in it is mine! Life is great.