Piecrust promise

Double Leo Sister and Jolly Not-So-Green Giant Brother-in-Law had descended into Victoria from their up-Island home to have an early Thanksgiving dinner with us the Friday before the long weekend, using up the last of the piecrusts I'd stashed in the freezer.  

On the Sunday, I had a lovely block of "alone time" while the Resident Fan Boy and younger daughter went out for lunch.  It was then that I discovered that I was out of shortening, so resigned myself to making all preparations on Monday.  I was in bed when the RFB approached me to quietly ask if I were making pies at all.  Apparently, younger daughter had observed my lack of preparation, and had made an equally quiet and anxious inquiry.

Younger daughter lives somewhere on the autism spectrum, which despite the rainbow-like terminology, is a very concrete and literal place.  Holidays must be made manifest and occur on the appropriate day, which, in our case is the holiday Monday.  (Many Canadian families have the meal on the Sunday, to allow for travel time.)

I, of all people, know the importance of making holidays tangible in our house, so rose early to make the dough and chill it, before heading out to set out Demeter's breakfast.  Home to roll out seven piecrusts: two for the counter, five for the freezer.

After another trip across the street and down the block to pull together Demeter's lunch, I returned to make the filling from pumpkins from last year's Hallowe'en, mashed and waiting in the freezer.

To further realize and cement Thanksgiving, I'd assembled a playlist for daughter's Spotify account, and put it on while I worked, knowing she'd hear it from her bedroom.

A Disney version of "Turkey in the Straw" drew her out, and I explained what I'd done.  She seemed chuffed. (Other tracks included:  "Thank You Girl" (Beatles), "What a Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong),  "Eat It" (Weird Al), "All Good Gifts" (London cast of Godspell), "Get Happy" (Judy Garland), "Happy" (Pharrell Williams), "Food, Glorious Food" (original cast of Oliver!), etc.

We eventually sat down to a simple supper (attended by Demeter, of course) with our traditional sides of Caesar Salad and garlic bread, followed by pie, glorious pie.  And younger daughter was relaxed and happy - even chatty, by her standards.

It's important to keep piecrust promises -- perhaps because they're so easy to break.

Jack o'lantern jazz: freestyle, old-school, fusion, and bebop

I spent part of this morning test-driving jack o'lanterns.

 I already knew that mine would need a tilt. I'm the only family member who used a stencil this year. It's not as easy as you might think. I also decided I wanted to try peeling this year; allowing the light to shine though the exposed flesh of the pumpkin. (This is not as creepy as it sounds.)  

Note to self:  the stencil needs to be taped closer to the lid, so that the image doesn't disappear down under.

The Resident Fan Boy went old-school - suitable for scaring off evil spirits.

Demeter free-styled a sun-burst for a flash of brilliance.

And younger daughter has been focussing on the fantasy/horror series Stranger Things. She was mortified to have forgotten the "R", but I think the addition is in keeping with the storyline of children astray and missing -- something, I hasten to add, we do not wish for any trick-or-treaters tomorrow night.  

May the lights guide them home safely.

Hallowe'en seventeen

This year, I decided to splurge and ordered up a deluxe carving kit with special scoopers, and awls and saws of delicate sizes for intricate stencil work. Here is what elder daughter, the Resident Fan Boy, and younger daughter produced after a couple of hours of diligent chiselling yesterday.
By 8:30, the candies were gone, snaffled up by scores of goblins ranging from wide-eyed and worried toddlers-in-arms to the usual large gangs of gangling teenagers. Having spent seventeen Hades Hallowe'ens, we knew to take the pumpkins in and turn off the porch lights to discourage even larger trick-or-treaters.

Looking uneasily to the south, I wonder if there's a metaphor in there somewhere.

It's been a slice

Morning, as autumn wheels inexorably toward winter. The grass is silver with frost and crunches subtly underfoot. The most stubborn of leaves are giving up in droves and plummeting. I'm waiting for the #150, planting myself under a grand maple because it's All Souls Day already and I have failed to catch a single leaf for wishing. I catch two before the bus pulls up then watch gardens full of doomed, sparkling flowers flash by. Amid ghostly filthy snowman made from last weekend's snowfall, abandoned jack o' lanterns glitter with frost on this cloudless, bright, freezing morning.

I'm always come over with a sense of loss and waste as I survey smashed, rotting or shrivelling pumpkins. So many delicious pies that will never be.

Every All Saints' Day and for a few days afterward (if I'm persistent and don't allow the rot to set in), I put on my trusty DVD set of the Royal Shakespeare Company's marathon stage version of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Dickens, I feel, always smacks of late fall and early winter. Then I put out bowls and chopping boards and reduce the jack o' lanterns to saffron cubes before steaming several double boilers' worth, mashing them and stuffing them into two-cup freezer bags. (Canned pumpkin in my pies? Nevah!!! Canned pumpkin is mostly squash, y'know...)

This is a large project that easily takes up the length of the Nicholas Nickleby DVDs, which are among my favourite things ever. Someone has been kind enough to post nine minutes of what is a nine-hour show. Of the four main actors in this particular scene, only Roger Rees played one character, most of the fourteen cast members played anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen characters throughout the play:
A bit of trivia: the blond actress is Cathryn Harrison, a granddaughter of Rex Harrison. While searching for this clip I found a blurred but watchable version of the South Bank Show on the creation of this production. But I must to bed. I'll mash a bit of pumpkin before I go.

Today's goal

Once the Resident Fan Boy has finished with this morning's pancakes, I will reclaim and clean the kitchen (which should take about 45 minutes), then embark upon creating the pastry for my famous pumpkin pie. (Last year's is shown.) This year's challenges: 1) our blender (our last surviving mechanical wedding gift --- RIP) died while I was trying to make pumpkin pie for last week's house-guest. Pumpkin pie made with an electric beater simply doesn't cut it. This means I am using the new blender for the first time. On Thanksgiving. Is this wise? 2) The Resident Fan Boy and elder daughter went out yesterday to procure whipping cream, as our supermarket will be closed for today's holiday. There is none to be had, neither in spray can, nor whip-it-yourself form. (Also, the half-decent vanilla ice cream is sold out.) They plan to re-check the convenience stores today, on the basis of a vague promise from a shady proprietor. So we face the prospect of pumpkin pie sans whipped cream. Younger daughter is in despair.

I blame this on the coming Aries full moon which hits full strength tomorrow. On Election Day. God save us.

Anyhow, with some trepidation, I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian lurkers. Say "hello" to me sometime, will you?