Many decades ago, when I was but a young mother, we decided it would be awesome to try to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, to take to the Smith family Thanksgiving. The internet existed in those days, but I had no earthly way of knowing that. This was three or four years before I first stumbled upon AOL. I didn't do any research on how to prepare a fresh pumpkin for pie. Back then, I didn't know small sugar pumpkins were a thing. We used a standard jack-o-lantern pumpkin. I think (though I cannot swear to it) that we were smart enough to cook it first, not that it did a damned bit of good. I looked at the pale flesh, thought about how dark it looked coming out of a can, and my logic said, "well, it must be pureed whole, skins and all." Yeah. No. Don't ever do that. I cut it in hunks, put it in a blender, and used that in a pie. Dude, we took that thing to the family meal, thinking we had done something awesome. Then we tried to eat a piece of the monstrosity we had created. There was not enough whipped cream in the world that could make those tiny chunks of pumpkin peel go down easy. Sorry, Smiths. My bad.
I've come a long way with my kitchen skills, and I am a whiz with Pinterest when needs must. I now know that one roasts squashes and then scoops out the soft flesh with a spoon before using in recipes. I own a bona fide food processor too. Eating my food no longer requires a bribe or a double-dog dare. Today I roasted a lovely pie pumpkin from my own garden, ran it through the processor until it was smooth enough for Dino to eat (not that she was here), and followed the instructions on canned pumpkin I had in the pantry. (I used the home grown one because I could, not because I had no other option.) I used a Pinterest recipe for a grain-free crust that I had prepared yesterday and chilled overnight. And I got distracted and let it and the pecan pie from my family's cherished recipe sit in the oven just slightly too long and I over-browned the crusts on each one. No matter. I won't be judged by these pies. The only people eating them will be core family. Tomorrow I will do a drive-by exchange of turkey and pie for some green bean casserole and jello salad, and then my daughter's family will eat in their house and we will eat in ours. If they think my pie-making skills have not progressed far enough from that original horror almost 30 years ago, then I won't be around to see them spit it out and scrape it into the compost bucket.
On tonight's game night via Google hangouts, the kids put Dino front and center for their livestream. She was cute and charming all the way up to her bedtime (and then she got cranky). Several times we got distracted from our game to giggle and wave at her (not just us, but the neighbors and our foster daughter who moved out into her own place this year). It was good practice for the holiday, when we will be on several video chats with family. It impressive how well a six month old baby already gets video conferencing, but such is the world we live in these days.
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