Pumpkin, the forgotten fruit

Did you know that Antarctica is the only continent that cannot grow pumpkins? Did you know that the biggest recorded pumpkin was 500 pounds? Did you know that pumpkin is a fruit in the squash family? Did you know that 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced each year? Did you know that pumpkins originated in North America? Did you know that you can eat a pumpkin? I'm guessing that the answer to most of these questions is no. When people think of pumpkins, they generally think of Halloween and the many creative ways to carve a pumpkin. For example, picture above, "Elder Potato head". One may also think of Cinderella and her amazing Fairy Godmother's work with a pumpkin. The reprobates of the world may be thinking "whose car can I throw one at?". But when I look at a pumpkin, as with many other fruits, I see food. Somehow in all the hustle and bustle, we as a society have forgotten that you can cook a pumpkin. Said one when I mentioned I was cooking a pumpkin "you can cook pumpkin?". Another when asked where they thought canned pumpkin came from answered "the grocery store".

I am here to remind you that yes, not only can pumpkin be cooked into several delicious delicacies, it is exceedingly nutritious! Let's break it down.

per 1 cup cooked boiled and drained pumpkin there are:
Calories 49
Fat 0 grams
Protein 2 grams
Carbohydrate 12 grams
Dietary Fiber 3 grams
Calcium 37 mg
Iron 1.4 mg
Magnesium 22 mg
Potassium 564 mg Zinc 1 mg
Selenium .50 mg
Vitamin C 12 mg
Niacin 1 mg
Folate 21 mcg
Vitamin A 2650 IU
Vitamin E 3 mg

Might I specially point out the 2650 IU of Vitamin A!!! That is 245% of the daily vitamin A you need folks!



It is true that pumpkin does take some time and energy to convert into a usable form, so now that you feel sufficiently guilty for simply carving your pumpkin and leaving all that vitamin A outside to rot, let me tell you one way to cook a pumpkin.

1. obtain a pumpkin. Because of the aforementioned societal bias, October is the best time.
2. cut it in a manner to sufficiently be able to carve out the guts
3. carve out the guts (be sure to keep the seeds! They can make a yummy snack! I'm not sure if there are any uses for the goo...)
4. Chop the pumpkin into manageable pieces, i.e. pieces that will fit into a pot
5. boil the pumpkin! It will need about 30-45 minutes or until it is very soft.
6. Here I usually let it cool well, and then peel it. It can be peeled before boiling, but I find it infinitely easier to peel it after boiling. The flesh should fall off the skin fairly easily.
7. Stick it in a blender and puree it. There should be no clumps and it will seem a bit runny, should remind you of baby food.
8. Return your canned pumpkin to the store.
9. Freeze it or use it right away!!
10. Enjoy your scrumptious treats year long.

tip: pumpkin seeds are especially delicious when they have been soaked in worcestershire sauce and then roasted!

There you have it, pumpkin with a purpose. By all means, continue to carve pumpkins, I obviously am amused by it. However let us expand our horizens and utilize one of pumpkins most valuable assests, its flavor.

You did what!?!?

I thought I would save you all some breaths, and say for you what I know you will say when I announce what I did. I went to a Yankees game! It's true! I hopped in the car with a crazy New York driver, went down to the Bronx, sat in the brand spanking new Yankees stadium and watched an entire baseball game. And guess what, I enjoyed every minute of it! I've discovered my problem watching baseball, I've always sat too far back to be able to see the ball. Turns out when you sit close enough that you can see the ball, you don't get bored nearly as quickly. It's much more enjoyable! This was our view.



But Laura! you're saying, those seats are 21 rows back from the field! Those have got to be at least $300 seats! I know, don't worry, I didn't compromise any standards, we only paid $25!! Through an interesting series of events, we got extremely lucky.

They somehow knew I was coming so they put my name up on the board. Some people may try and convince you that is an advertisement for the gas station, don't be deceived! I'm still wondering though who the heck has a last name of Budweiser...

I was accompanied by a couple of great guys I have met in the branch, Alan (above) and Clarence (below). Alan unfortunately carries a curse of the home team losing when he attends the game, so the Yankees did lose. Fortunately I'm a *social fan so didn't lose any sleep. Clarence on the other hand...


*social fan - Whomever I happen to be with at the time, whatever their favorite team is, that is my favorite team. I'll probably end up cheering for the Red Sox by the time the year is over.

I'm a Connecticutian!

Hard to believe that I have been here a month, but it is starting to feel more like home. Ok, I'm really not a Connecticutian, it is funny some of the differences here. First, people in the store look at me like I am crazy when I look at them and say hi. They are so confused by it! (once you start talking to people though, they are very nice) Second, tonight I borrowed my roommates GPS to go to a party that some classmates were throwing, the GPS wasn't working properly, and I didn't have a clue what direction I should start driving! Third, trees!!! Wow are there a lot of trees and woods! I am excited for how beautiful the fall will be! My house is fun, here are pictures of some of the way we have decorated the inside, many of the features may look familiar.



Susan, my piano, made it safely across the plains! She didn't even get knocked too bad out of tune! I really need to get a de-humidifier for her though...

One of my favorite parts so far about Connecticut is living so close to the ocean! I should put a little disclaimer here, really it is the Long Island Sound. I'll explain for those who don't know what that means, because I'll be honest, I wouldn't have known what that meant before I became a Connecticutian. If you look at a map, Long Island, New York is right across from Connecticut and having such a big island right across the way affects the water. It is still the ocean but it is a lot calmer, we don't get the big crashing waves, crazy tides etc. Also the closest water to me (about 5 minute drive!!) is in a little bay called the Branford Bay. Really though, it is delightful. Most of the beaches are quite rocky, but my town has made a little sand beach for us and there is a nice park right by the water. One of my new favorite places.

Random chair on the dock

Apollo's new groove

My fish is adjusting quite nicely to the east coast. He seems to be happy, swimming well, eating well. However he has undergone a strange mutation. Let us review his Utah look.



Nice blue color (which actually did fade some, sorry I don't have a more recent picture), white fins with splashes of red. Apollo has decided that with the change in environment, he needed to also have a drastic change. This is the new Apollo.








He is still acting healthy and I still love him just the same, he's just turned more...red. Four prevailing theories right now. The first is his little container that I brought him over in was red, and maybe he just misses that container and it is kind of like the patronus phenomenon. The second theory is stress, it's a killer. The third theory, Apollo died on the trip, my fam didn't want to tell me so switched him when I was sleeping hoping I wouldn't notice. The fourth and most likely theory in my mind is the fact that there is fluoride in the water in Connecticut that was not in the water in Utah! Hm...what do you think?

RELOCATION!!

Wow, I can't believe where life has gone, I have officially moved to Connecticut to get my nurse practitioner degree at Yale University! This explains lack of recent posts...extreme business with getting ready to go plus soak up as much of my Utah friends as I could muster! But you'll be happy to hear that I have a goal to update at least once a week!

To get to Connecticut, my sister Sara, Mom, best friend Nicki and fish - Apollo - went on an intense cross country trip. We drove a truck which I lovingly named Phillipe and Millie (my car) through 11 states which are:

1. Utah!
Sara with Phillipe and our entertainment, Harry Potter!

2. Wyoming!
Boring picture, but Wyoming is a boring state! In the Walmart parking lot trying to stay out of the sun.



3. Nebraska!
We slept in this charming town called Sidney. My favorite part was passing a town called Friend.




4. Iowa!
we accidentally took a video instead of a picture...




5. Illinois!
not too much exciting happened here




6. Indiana!
Are you getting the gist yet that not too much happened on the first part of our trip?


7. Ohio!
Finally excitement! We stopped in Kirtland to visit some of the church history sites. The Kirtland temple was beautiful.


8. Pennsylvania!
We weren't here for too long...


9. New York!
We did several things in New York, we stopped at Niagra falls, Apollo got so excited, he tried to join his fish friends, but I told him he didn't want to go down the waterfall and he calmed down. We also went through Palmyra. On the same day that we went to the Kirtland Temple, we got to go to the Palmyra Temple! It was a neat experience. We saw most of the sites in Palmyra, the missionaries at the Hill Cumorah (huh, apparently I have no idea how to spell that...is that right?) babysat Apollo for me while we saw the sites. I think they were amused.







10. Massachusetts!
Turns out we didn't get a picture in Massachusetts.

11. Connecticut!
yeah! Apollo made it back into his bowel!




I'm excited to see what new adventures await me here in the east! Coming up next, why Connecticut has turned Apollo blue again with some red splashed in...

garden!

Gardening is by far my favorite part of the summer and this year I have been so blessed to have a great little place to plant! Utah has been getting some great rain that has kept my flowers really happy. Here are some progress pictures. My flowers are a bit like my children so there are quite a few :)

This is back in April when I first planted, please pay special attention to the ity bity pink snap dragons up in the corner.

More shots from April

ok, so all of the following pictures are from the last couple of weeks! the garden has really taken off! A few of the plants were added or rearranged, but for the most part, the original plants just grew really well, for example, the snap dragons! this next picture is those same snap dragons that just took off!

cool how much more full it looks! I did get in some fights with the apartment gardeners to get them to stop picking the "weeds" that were coming up that were actually seeds I had planted, but finally I was able to get them to last to the point that they flowered and the gardeners finally understood that they were not weeds and stopped pulling them.

You may be asking yourself, what happened to those really pretty orange flowers that are in the April pictures but not the June pictures? Well, unfortunately, it turns out that our common enemy, the snail, likes to eat them. The following picture is what happened to my rununculus.

Snails also like to eat mums.

But I have since spread down some poison and that seems to be keeping the snails away. So there you have it, my little garden!! The love of my life!!

Cruise!!!

The fam went on an awesome Caribbean cruise in May. I just loved it. A cruise is perfect for my personality type. You get the perfect blend of laying around with absolutely nothing to do, sleeping in, reading on the deck, watching the ocean, playing minature golf, adventure, shows, macaroni and cheese, steak, etc, etc. It was lovely.

ah the bahamas

we saw some pirates off in the distance

not photoshopped!! I know amazing, just off of Key West

Getting ready to snorkel!

My feet really really rejected the Caribbean sun