Archive for the ‘Halloween’ Category
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
- Go to the grocery store and pick out a giant pumpkin (more than one if you are so inclined). The Bigger the pumpkin, the better… Usually. The more surface area, the more detailed you can be.
- Decide on a design for the face of your pumpkin. You can either make up your own design which will be more fun, or you can surf the internet for a design. There thousands or ideas out there.Lay out some newspaper on your kitchen table. This is going to get messy.
- Put on clothes you don’t mind getting messed up.
- Find along sharp knife, a large heavy duty soup spoon, a garbage can and a cookie sheet.
- Place the pumpkin on the newspaper. Decide on where you want to place your design. You can draw this design on the pumpkin. Another option is to tape your design on the pumpkin, then poking through the design with a needle. Follow the lines of the design creating a ‘connect the dots’ pattern on the surface of the pumpkin.
- Take the design off the pumpkin.
- Cut a cap onto the top of the pumpkin. Make sure you angle the knife towards the stem. This will keep the cap from falling into the pumpkin. Don’t worry about getting the cuts perfectly symmetrical. The nice part about having a unique shape carved into your cap is that it will only go in the hole one way giving the cap a perfect seal
- Slice all the strings off the inside of the cap. Again, leave enough flesh on the cap so it will not fall into the pumpkin.
- With the giant spoon, scrape out all the guts of the pumpkin. Yes I know it is gross. There is not a wrong way to do this. I like to place my thumb on the inside of the head of the spoon and scraping the inside walls of the pumpkin with the edge of the scoop. You should definitely find the best way for you to do it. Make sure you keep the guts. You will want the seeds for later use.
- Now that the inside of the pumpkin is cleaned out, you can carve the pumpkin. With the knife you used to cut out the cap, start cutting out your face (you may use one of those carving kits that you can get from the store). Just follow the design you have already transferred to the pumpkin.
- Go back and clean up the flesh inside your cuts. You want the maximum amount of light to come out of the pumpkin when it is sitting on your front porch. At an angle, cut inside the rind removing the flesh.
- Light a tea candle or snap a glow stick and place inside the pumpkin. Set the cap and place outside after the sun has set. Enjoy your creative expression.
Separate the seeds from all that stringy stuff. You can throw al that stringy stuff away.
- Rinse the seeds with water and let dry. You can pat them dry in a clean towel.
- Mix them with olive oil and spread out on a cookie baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
- Place them in the oven at 450 degreed for about 30 minutes. Let them cool and enjoy.
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