Pumpkins!

We were given a number of pumpkins, not all the same variety, and I have been finding different ways to use them.

Some, of course, became jack-o-lanterns.

Some I turned into "Cream of Fresh Vegetable Soup".  The recipe I use is in an old Soups and Stews Betty Crocker cookbook, but an identical version is online here (in a harder-to-read form, no handy chart).  Note:  when it says to only put part of the recipe in the blender at a time, it is NOT kidding:  when you blend hot liquids, the cool air that gets blended in expands rapidly...and sends the liquid upward in a big, hot SPLOOSH!!!

I baked two pumpkin pies, which didn't last long in our house.

I also froze something like fourteen quarts of mashed pumpkin.

And I still have four pumpkins left, plus there are two oblong pumpkins that may be squash hybrids, which my husband wants to cook up himself.

I found that the easiest way to deal with pumpkins en masse was to cut them in half from top to bottom, scoop out the seeds and strings, and bake them cut side down on cookie sheets, about 1.5 hours at 350 degrees. My cookie sheets are longer ones (they hold 15 cookies, not 12), so I was able to get two halves on each cookie sheet, and two sheets in the oven at a time.

Then, after the pumpkin is good and baked, scoop the flesh out of the skins, and mash it up.

I did puree some pumpkin that I peeled, cut into one-inch chunks, and cooked by simmering in water; I found that I needed to add a little extra water to the chunks for our blender to handle them.  (See the above note on SPLOOSH!!!, which applies here as well, if the pumpkin chunks are hot.)

I found that the easiest way to salvage the seeds for toasting was to put the pumpkin innards into a large bowl of water, pick out the strings first (instead of the seeds), and then get the seeds.

Cutting up the pumpkins was the hardest part; part of the time I used a dull hatchet, but it takes some very firm whacks, and my aim is not always the best, and there were bits of pumpkin flying all over the kitchen.  Otherwise, I used a long, serrated knife to halve the pumpkins.

Handkerchief box from greeting card

I've been gradually finding boxes and other containers for the things that I keep on my closet shelves.  I noticed recently that I didn't yet have a container for my small stack of handkerchiefs.

So I started keeping my eye out for one, as I went around the house, but all the containers in that size were already in use.

Then, I was about to throw away a greeting card, and I thought I might save part of the picture on it for a later collage project...or I could use it to cover a small box...or I could just make a small box out of the card itself...and that could be my handkerchief box.

I did a little careful cutting, folding, and stapling, and ended up with not exactly a box, but an adequate enclosure for handkerchiefs, with a partial bottom, and with the part of the picture that I liked the best being on one of the sides.

Toilet seat touch-ups

I wrote before about repainting the toilet seat. It looked much better, but under the extreme conditions in our household, the paint began to be worn through after three weeks.  That's the disadvantage of paint:  low durability.

The advantage of paint, however, is that it is easy to renew, especially if you have more paint of the exact same color (and it is not too old).  I was able to respray only the areas of the seat that needed it, with much less trouble than it took to repaint it the first time.

MDF is not wood

It is only a very thick paperboard (think cereal box material).  It will self-destruct if it gets wet, so it must be very well protected against water, either by being kept in consistently dry areas of the house, or by being completely encased in a thick, durable, and waterproof coating.

Harvest time

 I started thinking about some fall wardrobe things, but I quickly came to realize that my time is better spent right now working on preserving our garden produce.

My husband is the family gardener, and despite very limited gardening time this year, he has gotten good yields of beans, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and onions.  Earlier in the summer, we had broccoli and cabbage, also.

With the first frost of the year coming, he got in as much as he could, and I've been working on it cleaning and storing it.

We have a chest freezer now, so I have been freezing some things.  We also have a canner, but I don't yet feel free enough from urgent interruptions to devote my attention to a canning session.

We were given permission to pick apples in someone's yard, and got close to three bushels from that. I don't know the apple variety, but they do not keep well at all, so I made applesauce and juice from them all, the next day. I figured out a workflow where I peeled apples with the crank apple peeler/corer/slicer, put the peeled slices in the applesauce pot, and ran the end slices (which the peeler misses) through our juicer.

Someone also gave us a pumpkin, and several acorn squash.

The children have helped here and there, without arm-twisting.  They've picked and shelled beans, picked peppers, and helped core apples.

A solution for a leaning drying rack

Folding drying racks are very useful, but they always seem to start leaning over, after just a little use.

My husband came up with a simple fix, though:  get a stick that is about as tall as the drying rack, and tie it (upright and a bit off-center), to the rack's diagonal pieces, to support the end of the drying rack.

I will add a picture when I can, but right now my drying rack is in use!

I think if you make the ties for the stick just a little loose, you'll be able to slide the stick out and fold the rack.

Where to hang the dish towel

I was reading an interior design book a while back, and noticed that many of the kitchens had an awkwardly-placed dish towel in the picture.  About two-thirds of the visible dish towels were hanging on oven door handles--which could be a considerable distance away from the sink and dishwasher, given the layouts of these oversized, high-end kitchens--and the rest were hanging on the edges of the sinks.

It was a surprise to see such ad hoc solutions to such a basic need, in such thoroughly-designed kitchens.

In my own kitchen, there are false drawer fronts in front of the sink, and I can hang a towel on a drawer handle.

What I don't have, but do need, is a place somewhere to hang wet and dirty towels to dry before they go downstairs to the laundry room.