Halloween

Tomorrow is a national holiday so everyone will be home. All Saints Day is the day after Halloween. The girls turned into a bunch of blueberry monsters this morning as their faces, tongues, and hands turned blue. The banana pancakes that followed toned down the intensity of blue on their tongues.

During the day we did more drawings. I did a little one about a Turkey. Yesterday's was one about a witch. I feel that my lessons on limerick writing in elementary school are finally paying off. I'm also getting better at kid management (as much as the difficulty of it is increasing). Today I used the Turkey story to coax Maddie into being a good girl for the rest of the day (no whining, no crying, saying Thank You and Please, and cleaning up after herself) after an afternoon nap. She saw me drawing the pictures but didn't know how they related to each other. I told her if she was good all day, her mom would read the story at bedtime. She did an excellent job, even volunteering to clean up after her sister. Note: This trick won't work for kids who know how to read.

Before dinner, the kids turned into a couple of monkeys.

And then after bath time I spotted Obe Wan Kanobe's long lost twin - Obe Wan KaWubby.

I also found a way to charge my laptop and camera and get the wireless router to cooperate - which explains the sudden increase in posts. I will retire the night with a little more reading of Malgudi Days by Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan.

Finally, here is a delicious dinner recipe using Pumpkin to celebrate Halloween.

Pasta with Pumpkin, Spinach and Pine Nuts

(I've been enjoying quite a bit of fresh spinach here after being deprived of it in the U.S. for several weeks due to the e.coli scare)

1 small pumpkin (about 700 g), diced into 1.5 cm cubes
2 large handfuls baby spinach
50 g pine nuts, toasted
cream (optional) - just a gloop
freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
200 g pasta eg. farfalle, penne, spirals
freshly grated Parmesan

1. Place the pumpkin on a flat baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for about 20 min, or until cooked and starting to turn brown at the edges.
2. When pumpkin is cooked, wilt the spinach in a pan, and add the pumpking and the oily juices.
3. Add the cream if using.
4. Carefully stir through cooked pasta.
5. Add some pepper, nutmeg and Parmesan, and server.

Variations: Add sliced onion, sliced mushrooms, and/or chopped pancetta at the start.

From the Message Cookbook, submitted by Libby Renton. The pumpkin should remain in cubes, but if the variety you have is soft, it may end up in a mush.