AUTUMN

[Opsa]

Making pear butter today, as the trees need picking out soon. I've so far kept up on the plums by eating each day's crop of windfalls.  Perfectly ripe!

That sounds absolutely marvelous.

One year a friend of ours pressed fresh cider, to which the grown-ups added some ginger brandy. It was too yummy. Gotta ask what he's doing with that press this year.

Another pair of friends have persimmons ripening. They bought the house a year ago and don't know what to do with the persimmons. I suggested making jelly. Anyone know what else to do with them?

[Aggie]

Mmm....  dry them and make persimmon punch:
http://www.organicauthority.com/juicy-spirits/sujeonggwa-persimmon-punch-recipe.html


Just eat them when ripe, too.  I imagine they'd be good baked, as well. They have their own spicy flavour, so they wouldn't need much to make a good crisp.

To store pears, I'm just tossing dicing them peel on, tossing them with a very little bit of veggie oil and baking them until they start to brown.  Then I'm freezing them in reusable containers.  Easier than canning, and I have the freezer space.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

[picture of Homer Simpson drooling]

[Opsa]

Today I bought pumpkin bagels. They smell marvelous! But sometimes flavored bagels smell better than they taste. I hope that these taste anywhere near as lovely as they smell.

[Opsa]

BTW: Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bagels taste even better than they smell!

This year the regulars from my now defunct children's theater and I are performing in the local Haunted House. We are going to be The Magelwurzels, a creepy Victorian era family that has mysteriously gone insane.

The name came from some curiosity about the carving of mangel wurtzel beets, rhutabagas and turnips to make "punkies", a sort of small jack-o-lantern not often seen in the U.S. We are going to attempt to make some for our front porch porch. Anyone done these and have any pointers?

[pieces o nine]

My understanding is that the greater difficulty in carving these small vegetables is what led to USAmurkins substituting pumpkins. Sharp knives, cups or small shallow bowls to help steady the items, and very careful fingers is, what I've heard for tips.

Don't forget to post photos!   

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The whole concept of Autumn is a bit lost in South FL but here in Manila where the humidity is as high as the worst days of August in FL the idea of falling leaves and pumpkin carving seems a bit foreign.

[Opsa]

Can you carve a coconut or something?

[pieces o nine]

How about this?

Or this?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

^

[Opsa]

Hey! We carved our punkies last night, and it was surprisingly fun to have to figure them out.

First we chopped off the bottom because they were not flat down there, and so we could set them over a small glass coaster with a tea candle for easy lighting. Then we chopped off the "hat" and opened a hole for the smoke to come through. We then just hollowed out the insides, leaving a sturdy wall between the skin and the candle area. Th'O'lette and I sat on the front porch and whittled away and talked, and it felt very old-fashioned and fun. The turnips were way easier to hollow out than the rhutabaga, which was almost like wood or cork.

We carved little faces in them. The turnips we carved straight through, but the rutabaga had a very thick wall. The light doesn't shine through except where his face is carved out. The turnips glow all over when lit, like lanterns and are very charming.

We are inspired to grow our own punkie materials in the garden next year.

[pieces o nine]

They look fun, with the bonus of more happy memories.   
Update us on how they hold up compared to pumpkins?