Don't waste the pumpkin, Dad got wasted instead!

Mom had a problem with wasting food; I think it's because she knew hunger. Her mother, in fact, died of liver issues that were related to malnutrition during WWII. So when Halloween came around, she could not waste the pumpkin. So before we carved the pumpkin, she'd scoop out the seeds, then, using her biggest metal cooking spoon, she'd carefully shave out as much of the pumpkin meat as she could. This is hard work! I've tried it. The upside to this was that the pumpkin was ludicrously easy to carve, as it was only 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick...

She'd then take the pumpkin, boil it, and make pumpkin pies. Dad would put them carefully on a board in the backseat of his car and deliver them to friends. Of course everyone would insist he come in for a drink, Dad, despite promising he wouldn't, would come home throughly polluted...

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