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In the spirit of almost-Halloween, we got down and dirty jack-o-lantern style this weekend. With Heidi from next door, we made a night of it: renting the Back to the Future trilogy and cooking an autumnal meal (roasted chicken, cranberry chutney, roasted root veggies, and caramel apples). Eventually we roasted the pumpkin seeds too to top our soups for lunches this week. But there's not much that's quite as satisfying as starting out with a big blank orange canvas, and ending up with little monsters that glow in the dark.
Our cast of characters, clockwise from top: Mr. Evil Pumpkin, Mr. Ghost, Mr. Mike Wazowski.
And the most exciting thing is we have found a way to stave off the voracious neighborhood squirrels. It's been almost 3 days, and only one nibble on Mr. Evil Pumpkin's bottom teeth. The secret: the bitter spray (sold at pet supply stores) that keeps puppies from biting the furniture. Apparently squirrels are also opposed, and it doesn't seem to affect the pumpkins any (e.g., color, decomposition). We may have jack-o-lanterns until Halloween this year!
