The Great Pumpkin

I'm getting ready to carve this great beast - along with his brother who's currently adorning my dining room table - and I expect to be elbow deep in icky pumpkin stuff any minute now. While I don't love the prep work, I do love carving, so the ends justify the means. Our windows face the street and I like to take advantage of that this time of year and offer my creations to the masses.

Needless to say, I'll be roasting the seeds ... but you can't possibly need a recipe for that, can you? What's to say? Separate the seeds from the pulp, toss the seeds with some olive oil, dust with some Kosher salt and your favorite spices and dump them onto a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake them in the middle of a pre-heated 300 degree oven for 45 minutes or so, stirring once in a while, until they're crisp and light golden brown, serve and enjoy.

There's varying schools of thought on oven temp, baking time and whether or not one should wash the seeds prior to roasting ... I don't. I think they have more flavor when they are unwashed, but your mileage may vary, of course. And really, the baking times vary. Some years they're done in 45 minutes, sometimes its an hour. Use your best judgment.

Here's what I do know: they're delicious and the husband can't get enough of them!

As for the carving ... I've been doing the same design since I was a kid. I like big spooky eyes, some evil eyebrows and a giant fanged mouth! My pumpkins always look the same, its the husband who experiments. One year, after the Yanks had won the World Series, he carved his into the famous interlocking NY design on the Yankee caps. As soon as it went into the window we started to hear beeps and cheers from cars and passers by. What fun!

Obviously there'll be no Yankee themed pumpkin this year ... I wonder what he'll do??? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, what are you doing to celebrate this magical holiday? Scary Diva wants to know!