Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Great Pumpkin Shortage of 2010

Every year I process two pumpkins, mostly for use in pumpkin bread. I do have three or four ziplocs of frozen pumpkin left in the freezer, which I planned to use up in the next couple of weeks, before putting this year's "harvest" up.

I was reading A Simple Quilter, and she was talking about the canned pumpkin shortage. I would not have noticed until November: although I could use my frozen pumpkin for Thanksgiving pies, my husband prefers canned for that purpose.

Can-you-believe-that-there-is-a-shortage-of-PUMPKIN-of-all-things?

Go ahead and read her blog post, and learn how to process fresh pumpkin. She has pretty pictures that you can follow. I will add one more instruction: I put pumpkin in ziplocs in two-cup measures, because all of my Pumpkin Recipes call for two cups--pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies.

And don't forget to click on the "what canned pumpkin is going for on ebay" link. (in case the link expires, here are a few offerings:

4 cans $23.99
1 can $6.00
5 cans $24.99
3 small cans $17.99
1 can $5.00

no comment...


Wednesday, September 01, 2010

updateupdateupdate...

Well, usually at the end of August, I post a lot. My birthday is the 29th, and I wax eloquent with some bit of wisdom that you are just waiting to hear, I know.

(I am now 55, and I was born in 1955, so it is sort of my "golden" birthday.)

However, plans for my weekend changed, as my dear sister's husband passed away suddenly on the 28th. She lives 2500 miles away, so I have been on the telephone a lot. Plans are already in place for me to make a trip to see her in October, so we are leaving them in place, and she will have a military ceremony for Joe one day while I am there. I feel so privileged, that she is waiting.

And now I'm doing what I do best under stress: get sick. My tonsils are swollen, and have a few white spots on them. I'm going to try my vitamin C-every-two-hours, and napping whenever possible, to try to stave off a full-blown attack. I must have a little fever though--it has been 92 all week [thus my a/c is not "frosty cold"], and this morning I am shivering in a sweater. Not like me at all.

The other thing I do on September 1st is to break out the Christmas music. This has been going on since I was in high school, making Christmas gifts for all my friends. It is now a family joke, of course. Today's offering is Jackie Gleason's "Merry Christmas" album, ca. 1955 or so.

Well, I am really shivering, so I am going to go to bed. With my wool blankets and a good book. I covet your prayers for my sister and her children...