With Jack-o-Lanterns lined and lit up and candy in a bucket, Juana and I wait in vain for Trick-or-Treaters. Like many years prior, no children make the trek up our stairs to our front door leaving us with a pot of candy to consume. That’s why we now buy candy the we like best.
Prior to Halloween evening, Juana, her sister Rosana, Katie, Charlotte and Olivia descend on our kitchen to carve their pumpkins. It is always an interesting affair with everyone having a different take on Jack. I am consistent in design with mine having a malevolent grin.
Juana takes the innards of the pumpkins to prepare them for muffins, pie and toasted seeds. She lightly seasons the seeds with salt, olive oil and chili pepper to give them a heady kick.
The pulp she boils down for pumpkin-blueberry corn-bread muffins, which are divine. Processed pulp is saved for later pumpkin pies.
Olivia enjoys helping Juana make the muffins, though her help in this matter is somewhat questionable. This matters little as the chill in the air and rustle of the leaves tells me that Fall has very much arrived and the evenings where a fire warms our bodies will become more frequent.
