I am not a big fan of the whole Halloween thing. I am a christian and strongly believe we should not be going around celebrating ghosties and ghoulies. I also think that encouraging our kids to go around knocking on peoples doors for sweets is a really bad idea. It scares old people, rots kids teeth and lets teenagers wreak havoc with eggs. So rant over . . . .
Pumpkins are in abundance at this time of year, so why not have fun and carve one, that is a nice craft thing to do, and does not have to relate to Halloween. I decided to go with an owl, they are after all a night animal and would work well with the whole lantern at night idea. Designing one was a whole different mess! Making sure it would look like an owl when cut out, which bits to cut out and which to leave. In fact I stuffed it up anywhoos by cutting to much out! But he is still cute and a brilliant first attempt if I do say so myself.
I did feel like a brain surgeon when I took all the innards out. Eeewww! I was surprised to find a hollow stringy mess inside, I thought they would have a lot more flesh in them like a banana or mango. The seeds were really nice, we lightly toasted them and sprinkled with a little salt they made and excellent snack that night. It was hard work scraping out all the flesh from around the inside, but I’m sure it will taste lovely in a pie later!!
So, the pumpkin is hollowed out, I have a design traced onto the outside, now for the carving. Mike got me a little carving set Waitrose were selling this year, I have to say they were really easy to use. I thought being aimed at kids they were gonna be blunt saws that would do bugger all, but no, these little blighters were sharp and made light work of the poor pumpkin!!! So the actual carving was a joy. You do have to think about what you are doing at each stage though, as I cut the pupils out by mistake!! Cue rummaging around for cocktail sticks to put them back in!!! No one will ever know!!!
All in all I had fun carving this pumpkin, it would be fun to do again which means I have a whole year to think of a new design, death star maybe? (That has to be my fave one at the mo!)
