6 Quirky Things

I'm at Mum's & my brain is FULL of all my adventures. So in lieu of doing a huge post, I'm going to give myself some integration time. In the meantime, Duchess Dreams tagged me, so here we go with 6 Quirky Things:
1. Latest favourite food: sardines with ketchup. Hurray for Omega-3's!
2. I grew up in an old boyscout camp-turned-commune.
3. I went thru a purple-hair phase in my younger daze, still my favourite colour.
4. I adore my mother & feel sad for other women who are angry with theirs. Thanks for all the lessons, Mum. Intentional and otherwise. This a.m. she was telling me she found a snake in the garage. I don't know what kind it was, it was very long & the width of my thumb. I told her it was prolly a garter snake. "What did you do?" I asked. Well, I got my brush & dustpan...." Really? How did that work? Well, it just zipped off SO FAST! Hahahaha
5. I am often alone, but never lonely.
6. I'm a pathological learner--always reading, taking classes, etc.

I'm pulling a Margot Potter here: if you're reading this, TAG, YOU'RE IT!

Yummy Pumpkins

Today's post was inspired by Duchess Dreams. She has a pumpkin cookie recipe on her blog. Last year, my friend Bess told me she had tried a pumpkin recipe and in the end, it just ended up tasting like sweet potato. I love sweet potatoes, so I thought I'd give it a go. Thus began my love affair with pumpkins. They are so versatile--they can go savory or sweet.

Here's what I do:
Cut the pumpkin in chunks and put on a cookie sheet. Cover with aluminum foil to keep it consistent. Bake at 350 for an hour or so.

You can eat it like you'd eat acorn squash: mashed with butter & a dash of salt.
I scoop out the flesh and put it in a big bowl & use a hand blender to smooth it out.

• Add it to pancakes or muffins
• For kids, you can use it in macaroni & cheese for added nutrition & fiber. They'll never know.
• Pumpkin soup--lots of varieties: savory with basil, garlic, etc. Cream of pumpkin soup. You can also make it as a soup base to make veggie soup, chicken soup, etc. My favourite pumpkin soup is adding curry for a spicy Indian theme.
• You can also go sweet: cinnamon, honey, butter
• Serve it chilled, like a custard

Pumpkins are an easy & nutritious addition to your repertoire!

At the pumpkin patch (also with a corn maze!) they had these goats. How cool that they have a house they can climb on.
King of the Castle.