Pumpkin pals: Happy and Skittery

By the pricking of my thumbs

Something wicked this way comes.

- William Shakespeare, Macbeth

One of my very favorite autumn treats is pumpkin seeds. Baked and salted and crunchy... *drool*. This year, instead of begging for seeds from my more industrious friends, I bit the bullet, bought my own pumpkins, and gutted them myself.

Eeeeeew!

It was more work than I had hoped, and about as much as I'd expected. It wasn't my first time, but it's been a long time. I didn't get as many seeds as I wanted; that's my own fault for getting relatively small pumpkins. Next year, I'll buy larger ones ;-)

I debated whether to go to the trouble of carving them -- I really, truly, only cared about the seeds -- and decided to go ahead and do it. Looked up some simple patterns, bought a package of 50 tea lights (guess I won't need to buy any for about 20 years), and went to work.

I'm pretty proud of how they turned out!

Meet "Happy" and "Skittery"

I liked the idea of carving a "shadow" into the back.
Next year I might go ahead and do a second face...

First jack-o-lanterns at my new place. I admit, I enjoyed lighting the candles and seeing them glow from my balcony!

And the seeds? They were -- and still are -- delicious! I put some canola oil and salt on them, and baked them for 22 minutes. Yummmmmmmmm! I have enough to fill about a 16 oz. container. If I'm really judicious, they should last for a week. Then just another 51 weeks 'til I can carve some more... any sooner than that, the pumpkins aren't likely to last to Halloween night, or so I hear (it's only been four days, and Happy and Skittery already look pretty pathetic. Oh, well).

I already can't wait for next year!