Shamefully I admit I don’t remember ever carving a pumpkin. I may have, once, when the kids were very little, but it’s all a blur so if I don’t recall it clearly it may as well never have happened at all.
This year my 22-year-old has been on “let’s get into the fall spirit” kick (she’s back from her four-year college stint and feeling all domesticated back at home with the fam) and she asked if we could carve a jack o’lantern this year. I impulsively protested, conditioned to say no to things that are messy, a nuisance, and will cause me unnecessary grief in some way. Life is just way too chaotic for fun, creative activities such as this. So no. Absolutely no.
The next day we were at the farm picking out the perfect pumpkin for our endeavor. I didn’t go willingly, more out of guilt once again for not being parent of the year. Or even placing top three.
We agonized over a cart of pumpkins that all looked good to me. But my daughter, who had researched this to death the last or so, explained we need one more vertical in shape, makes a better face she said. Oy. I have always taken a liking to the round cherub-looking pumpkins but what do I know. So after deliberating and over-thinking for more minutes that I had patience for she picked the ONE.
Once home we set up on the back deck. Might as well eat that frog. We geared up with a paring knife, an assortment of other sharp longer knives, a marker, ice cream scooper, and a bucket for the guts. Then we picked out a face from ideas online – we both agreed on the “look of horror and surprise.”
Here’s the order of business, with some helpful tips along the way:
· Carve out a circle, maybe four inches in diameter, at the BOTTOM of the pumpkin. I had always known to cut off the top, making a lid out of the stem, but this way allows you to set the candle and put the pumpkin on top of it without having to stick your whole arm inside from the top and try to light it.
· Scoop out the innards with the ice cream scooper, scraping the sides as much as you can to get as much “meat” from the fruit (yes a pumpkin is officially a fruit – go figure). You can save the seeds if you want, and roast them in the oven. We didn’t bother this time around but I would like to give it a try. We kept a bucket nearby for the waste. Note: don’t get any bright ideas about throwing out the insides in the garden. “Oh wouldn’t it be great to have our very own pumpkin patch.” Big mistake. You will have pumpkin vines wrapped around anything and everything with pumpkins appearing everywhere. You’ll wake up one day next year and say “WTH is that” because you will have forgotten your dumb idea from the year before.
· Draw your pattern on the pumpkin. Do not just wing it – it’s pretty challenging to cut and trace even when you’re trying to follow the lines.
· Start your first slice into a marked area and follow along slowly but surely. The paring knife was our tool of choice for this because it was compact and easy to handle. But play around with different size knives if you’re more comfortable with something else. Just. Be. Careful.
· Light it up. We used a votive candle, but you can use a tea light or pillar candle.
The whole process was actually pretty easy and quick. I would say less than an hour from set-up to clean-up. I should bite my tongue but I’ll probably go for it again next year.
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