Pumpkin Princess

'The Princess & the Pumpkins'
(Possible sub-titles:

'What happened after she found the pea'
'Cinderella's pumpkin coach the day after the magic'
'The pumpmobile')

The best Belgian weekends typically involve attending some kind of obscure festival. This fall, to my delight, I discovered my first Pumpkin Festival.

"And, what, pray tell," you might ask, "does one do at a Pumpkin Festival"?

Well, after wandering around the farmyard, admiring the sunflower crop, going for a hayride, watching pumpkin puppetry, and enjoying a bowl of potage au potiron (pumpkin soup), you flex your pumpkin-carrying arms or collect a wheelbarrow at the entrance, and get down to the serious business for which you came:

To pick a pluck of pretty pumpkins for plenty of palatable pleasures.


And voila: the treasures which came home with me.


"And what, pray tell, might you do with such a gourd family collection?" you might ask (being the inquisitive type that you evidently are). Well, well... let me tell you...


First, the orange fruits played a starring role in a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner party, allowing me to elevate my humble culinary skills to new gourmet heights in the form of mini-pumpkins stuffed with wild rice, walnuts and cranberries....


And homemade pumpkin pie...



... which drew all sorts of appreciative noises from its consumers, that neither my words, nor this photo can quite capture...


Later, there was occasion for a pumpkin carving workshop...


I was fully impressed with the outcomes achieved by my pumpkin trainees:



Under careful tutelage of a pumpkin pro of course:


With pleasant pumpkin curry to provide us sustenance...


And roasted pumpkin seed snacks to enjoy all week long: tasty, nutritious, and apparently good for much that ails you, from acting an anti-depressant and improving bladder function to treating parasites and lowering cholesterol.

My pumpkin collection is down to only 4 fruits as I type (having also bought several more since my penchant for pumpkining first peaked).

Attractive, delicious, nutritious and the source of hours of pumpkin pleasure....what more could you ask of a gourd?