Journey to Pumpkin Pie

Last year I learned 2 things ...
1- not all pumpkins are for eating (Yuck...see Maya's face below in this 2006 photo)
2- pumpkin sellers will tell you that all the big pumpkins are for eating (or maybe they didn't understand my broken Swedish...)Last year I made the most horrible tasting pumpkin pies ever because I trusted the seller's words....ok, the fresh pumpkin didn't taste right but I thought that maybe the taste would improve with sugar and cooking...WRONG! And now I've been permanently bannished from making pies at my friend's Thanksgiving dinner. How could I go so wrong you wonder? Why not buy a can of pumpkin? Well, it's not available within an hour's car ride of my house. So I've got to do it from scratch! And you've got to have the right kind of pumpkin! Which leads me to tell you how I came about getting the RIGHT PUMPKIN this year! And if my sweetie Swede husband reads this...please forgive me but it's just too funny not to share!

In preparation for today's Thanksgiving celebration I wanted to make fresh cranberry sauce. The recipe I use calls for sugar and one whole orange with skin + two days of sitting. So my hubby takes the shopping list I made for him to the grocery store in the BIG city to buy all the stuff we needed...on the list I wrote 6 oranges with nice looking orange skin (NOT tangerines). He came back with 6 tangerines with nice looking skin. Thankfully he bought everything else I wanted on the list perfectly. But I was ready to make the cranberry sauce right then and there...he went to our local store to get me the orange with nice looking skin. This time he came back with 3 yellow GRAPEFRUITS with nice looking skins! I burst out laughing, then he burst out laughing...then Maya just had to join in because it was so funny that Pappa didn't know what an orange looked like! This time I went to the store! But it was the busy time of the day so to avoid the huge lines I went to a little shop run by an immigrant man....there I found the ONE ORANGE I needed. And then I saw it.....an OPEN pumpkin, one I could hold and smell before purchasing! He cut a large chunk off for me and assured me that I could eat it! This man I could trust! Another immigrant!
Isn't this cooked pumpkin lovely? What color! What freshness! What flavor!
Can't get that from a tin can! No way....this is THE good stuff!
I made a pumpkin pie (with gluten free crust), two crustless puddings, and one Martha Stewart Pumpkin Cheesecake!
Then along came an Indian princess and ate them all up! Well, she actually liked her Farmor's blackberry pie best! But I'm sure she'll enjoy left overs tomorrow!