Carving Jack: Part III of III

When you have cut an entire piece and are ready to remove it, put your hand inside Jack and gently push the piece out from the inside. It may not be completely detached, so you may have to carefully cut it at the corners. Larger pieces – such as the mouth – will be harder to push out and may actually require both hands. When all your pieces are pulled out, get right down on Jack's level and check to make sure that none of the slimy pulp is hanging in view. It's tacky to look like he has goop in his eyes as if he just woke up or snot in his nose or as if he needs to brush his teeth. Clean him up on the inside – inner beauty is important.

Take a paper towel and wipe off the outside of Jack and his top. They will probably be wet and slimy from having guts all over them.

Take a small, unscented votive candle and place it in a candleholder in the bottom of the pumpkin. Put Jack's lid on him. Inserting a long match through Jack's mouth, light the candle. You now have a completely Jack-O-Lantern. Place him on your doorstep to greet trick-or-treaters. While Jack may be hurt inside because of your supposed friendship then betrayal, it won't show since he has a permanent smile on.

A week later you will begin to smell Jack and realize you need to get rid of him, since he has wilted and rotted. As you hold him over the trash can, you will look back fondly over the time you spent together and all the work you put into the big orange squash you are now about to send tot he city dump.

Carving Jack: Part II of III

Draw a circle around the stem of the pumpkin. If you make it a perfect circle, be sure to leave notches in it so that you know exactly how to position it when you re-place it. Be sure that your circle is large enough that you can fit your fist inside of it. Take the paring knife and puncture the surface of Jack, somewhere along the line you have drawn. The skin will be tough, as Jack is trying not to cry. Gently push the knife all the way through the skin. Wiggle it back and forth in an attempt to make the cut wider (not longer). Pull the paring knife out and insert the special pumpkin-carving knife. Finish cutting the lid. To take the top off of Jack, you may need to pull hard, as the inside of it will be entangled with the rest of the stringy sliminess not visible from the outside. Using your paring knife, slice all the pulp off the top, and create a somewhat smooth surface. Set the top aside.

Put your hand inside Jack and begin gutting him. You will pull out mainly handfuls of seeds at first, which should be deposited in the cereal bowl. As you pull out the slimy insides, just place them on the newspaper until you are done. Be prepared to get stuff under your fingernails. When you have pulled out all you can with your hands, insert the metal spoon into Jack and begin scraping the walls. While this won't completely detach all the strings, it will weaken them enough to be able to then pull the rest off with your hands. Continue scraping and pulling until you can pull out no more. Be as thorough as possible, as you do not want a sloppy appearance at the end of your carving quest.

When you are finished scraping the insides of Jack, take the seeds to the sink and rinse them in a colander. Try to get all of the pulp off of them, so that you just have pure seed left. Shake handfuls of seeds off at a time and absorb the rest of the water with paper towels. Spread the seeds out on a cookie sheet, making sure there is only one layer of seed. Salt them generously. Bake them at 350^o for 10 minutes. After the buzzer goes off, flip the seeds over (as well as possible – it's difficult) with a spatula and salt the other side. Place them back in the oven for 5-8 minutes. When they are done, they can be eaten right away, and are best when toasty right out of the oven.

Before you begin to cut a face in Jack, design his demeanor on a sheet of paper. Try several possibilities and pick your favorite. Draw the selected face on the clean side of the pumpkin. When you begin to cut it, you will use both knives. The paring knife will work better for small detail, whereas the special pumpkin knife will give you the security of not having to worry about slipping and messing up the face. When using the paring knife, be careful not to let this happen – it can slide through the skin easily and may slip past the point that you want it to stop.

Carving Jack: Part I of III

Some years ago, I was taking a writing class at a community college. One of my assignments was to write a process paper -- as "how-to" on anything I wanted. Not thinking of myself as very talented, or particularly specialized in anything, I was at a loss with this paper. The assignment was given in the fall, and it suddenly occurred to me one day that I could write (since the instructor said "about anything") a how-to piece on carving a Jack-o-lantern. Well, I did. I got an A on the paper, and it remains to this day one of my favorite pieces I have ever written. I share it here in three installments over the next week, in celebration of Halloween. It is called Carving Jack.

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Creating a jack-o-lantern is much more than simply sticking a knife into the side of an orange squash. When you stand at the entrance to a pumpkin patch, you have only just begun the process. First you must comb the entire patch searching for the "perfect" pumpkin. It must have just the right shade of orange, and needs to be big enough to display a face on one side of it. Try not to pick a pumpkin with dirt crusted all over it, as that will diminish from the appearance of the final product. Make sure there is at least one side of the pumpkin that is clear and free of blemishes, as they will also detract from the expression of Jack at the end.

Once you have selected and purchased your pumpkin, take it home with you and begin the bonding process. You must befriend your pumpkin and become one with it. Set it on the dinner table and let it eat with you. (The idea here is not to make it think you're going to destroy it in a few days.) Set it out on your doorstep to greet your visitors. It will soon feel like a part of your family.

When you have decided that you are ready to carve the squash, bring it into the house and set it on the kitchen table or counter. Spread sheets of newspaper out so that the pumpkin guts don't get all over the place. Place Jack on the newspaper. He may be getting a little nervous at this point, so you might want to position him on some comics to put his mind at ease.

Now you'll want to gather your materials. You will need a pencil for designing, and two knives. Use a paring knife to make initial cuts through the tough outer layer. A plastic-handled childproof pumpkin-carving knife should be used for the majority of the cutting. You will also need a large metal spoon for scraping the inside of Jack. A cereal bowl will also be needed to separate the seeds into.

Quick note about music

For those of you who wanted to put a music player on your blog, or who wanted more info about mine, this post is for you. If you scroll down my page a little and look on the right, you'll see a little box entitled "My Current Favorite Songs" in which you will see a music player. The address where you can build your own such music player is http://www.projectplaylist.com/. You can search for music by title, by artist, even by album if you want. Set up a username and password, and create your own playlist(s). To add them to Blogger, simply go to the "Template" tab on your own blog, then click on "Add a page element." The element that you want to add is the one called "HTML/JavaScript." When you open that up, paste the HTML code that Project Music Playlist generates for you into that field, and it will come out looking like mine. Feel free to email me (or comment) with any questions.

Where to go?

I just have a quickie today. For those of you in the Cleveland area, I haven't yet gotten a pumpkin to carve! It's not like me to wait this long. Ben and I would like to go to a pumpkin patch this Saturday, if it's not too rainy, but we don't know where to go. Any suggestions nearby? Thanks!

New Recipe

I tried a new recipe for dinner last night. It was sooo good! It was really easy, but it looked great and tasted wonderful. My mom had given me a Kraft calendar from 2005 or so, that had a recipe and picture for each month. I found the recipe there, and couldn't resist when I saw the picture:


I had to share the recipe with you, because it's too easy and too good to keep to myself.

Hearty Turkey Sandwich

1 round loaf bread (1 lb.)
1/4 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
9 oz. shaved oven-roasted turkey breast
3/4 cup spinach leaves
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced, separated into rings, and cooked until golden brown
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, combined

Preheat oven to 400. Cut a 1/2-inch-thick slice from top of bread loaf; remove center of loaf, leaving 1-inch-thick shell. Reserve removed bread for another use.Spread inside of bread shell and cut-side of top of loaf with dressing and mustard. Fill bread shell with layers of turkey, spinach, onions, and cheese; cover with top of bread loaf. Wrap in aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes of until cheese is melted and sandwich is heated through. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut into 4 wedges with serrated knife. Serve warm.

That's it! That's all there is to it! It's pictured above with pumpernickel bread, but I used a loaf of Italian bread. Also, I don't like mustard, so instead I used 2 tbsp of Italian dressing, mixed it with the mayonnaise, and then spread the mixture on the insides of the bread. I am normally not a turkey person. I prefer ham on my sandwiches. But when I saw the picture and read the recipe, I knew I would love it, and I did. I actually didn't use the full 9 oz of turkey, because it didn't seem like it would all fit inside the loaf. However, when you put the cooked onions in on top of the spinach (and I sautéed my onions in a little bit of butter), they weigh it down enough that you can fit everything in. Overall, the onions were definitely my favorite part.

She's crafty!

Friday night was the Shaker Heights Ward Fall Freaky Friday activity. Every year we have a craft night a few months before Christmas. Actually, it's usually a Super Saturday where we're all at the church doing our thing all morning long. We couldn't do that this year due to a building conflict, so we were there until midnight or later on Friday. I only signed up for two of the projects, and I'm glad, because I got to spend my time on them, instead of only being able to do half of each of six different projects.

Here's the first one. I sanded down the board, painted it, let is dry, then pressed on two layers of acrylic lettering. The acrylic thing has become really popular in Utah in the last few years, and people make signs like this, or it can be pressed directly onto the wall, so that it looks like custom painting.


I'm not sure where exactly to put it, because the color won't work very well in our living room, which is another taupe-ish sort of color. In the picture above, it's set against the beautiful dark red walls of our dining room, but Ben and I both think it's a little weird to put a name sign like that up in...the dining room. So we're looking for a plan B.

I also made some magnets. Right now, the magnets on our fridge consist of tiny poetry pieces from Ben's bachelor apartment, miscellaneous lesson handouts from Relief Society, and Lexapro handouts from drug reps at my last job. The little magnetic poetry pieces will have to come down when MJ is big enough to get to them, and we don't really have any decent-looking magnets. Plus, these were fun to make.

So I just wanted to share.

TGIF

Good morning!

Ben and I got the house fairly well cleaned up on Wednesday night. By fairly well, I mean we sorted the laundry, washed one load, and at least moved the rest of it the the laundry room in the basement so it's out of our way. Oh, an cleaned the kitchen, living room, dining room, and bathroom, too. And I got the beans on to soak, and the vegetables chopped to put in the slow cooker the next morning. And it's a good thing, too -- that evening we got a call from the missionaries confirming the dinner appointment I had signed up for long before we ever went out of town. I had completely forgotten, and I'm not sure I ever told Ben in the first place.

So the house is more bearable. And we'll do a little more tomorrow. In the meantime, it's a good morning today because the Red Sox won last night in a key playoff game, and now they're heading back to Boston to finish out the ALCS. Josh Beckett is the man!

Not keeping up

Today has been a frustrating day, and it’s only half over by now. We were on vacation for a week, and before leaving, I only did the laundry we needed for the trip (no time to do more). We still have laundry needing to be done. Plus, we came home and each went straight back to work as soon as we got home. Ben was camping with the Boy Scouts this past weekend, and I slept a good portion of the weekend. We are still not unpacked, and I can currently hardly find my bedroom floor. It's a good thing I haven't needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night because I’d trip and fall on my face at least twice before I could even get to the door.

So I need to unpack us, sort the laundry, wash it (including sheets and towels). I need to clean the whole house, and finish unpacking buckets from moving in. I’m not sure if I’m at my point where it’s just too much that even I (the complete non-neat-freak) am completely fed up, or if I’m starting to nest. I know that “nesting” generally happens towards the end of one’s pregnancy, but I really feel compelled to clean the house. I almost didn’t come to work today because I’m just so frustrated with the house. I feel like I need to take off an entire day just to be able to get it done.

On top of that, I had wanted to make a bean stew for dinner tonight, but it gets cooked in the slow cooker, and the beans need to soak overnight before I can even put them in the crock pot. I also have to chop the carrots, celery, yellow squash, onions, and press the garlic, not to mention cut the stewed tomatoes into reasonably bite-sized pieces. I usually do all the veggies the night before and the tomatoes in the morning. I completely spaced out last night on doing the vegetables or putting the beans on to soak. And that was the second night in a row that I forgot to do that.

So basically I’m just really frustrated with myself right now. Apparently the hormones are setting in, because I had a great day yesterday, and today I’m just upset. But I get to have Boston Market soup for lunch.

Happy day, all is well

I had my first prenatal OB visit today. All the fun stuff, including bloodwork and an ultrasound. I got my first look at the baby, and got to see its heart beating. That was a little relieving. Not that I was worried or having any troublesome symptoms, but it's just kind-of there, in the back of your mind...what if things aren't working the way they're supposed to?

So here's a picture of little MJ:


Oh, I guess I should maybe explain "MJ" to you. Until I get the ultrasound at 20 weeks that tells me if I'm having a boy or a girl, the baby will be known as MJ. At that point in time, I will learn if I'm having a Matthew or a Julie. So until then, MJ it is.

Announcement

Now that I've told family and a few close friends, I guess I can let it out publicly.

I'm pregnant! Here's the proof:



Neither picture came out as good as I'd hoped, but here there are.

I'll see my doctor for the first time this week, and he'll probably tell me that my due date is May 18th. According to dates and everything, I'm nine weeks pregnant today.

Yes, I will be posting in this blog periodically updates and pictures. I'm not showing yet. I only have the weight that I'd already put on last year due to the birth control I was taking. I've had a hard time getting it to come off, but I've actually -- strangely -- lost about five pounds in the last 2-3 weeks. Here is a picture of me taken while Ben and I were dating:


I like it -- I look really skinny. Here's another one...this is Ben and I on our 1st anniversary:


Yeah, not so flattering. I've gone down about 10 pounds from that, but I'm still much bigger than I'd like to be. So the point of that was to say that other than the extra weight I've been carrying around for a year already, I've not gained any pregnancy weight yet. But I will share pictures as I do.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

This past weekend I was visiting my in-laws for a birthday and baptism celebration. In preparation for a cookout with about 40 people, Darcy (my mother-in-law) had wanted to make a nice lemon poppyseed Bundt cake. (Side note: every time I think of or see or say the words "Bundt cake" I think of that scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the Greek mom can't pronounce the word "Bundt.")

Anyway, Darcy had baked the cake, and as she turned it out of the pan, it broke! All over the countertop. She was really bummed out. We (and by we, I mean she) quickly started brainstorming what to do with it now, as she had only purchased one lemon cake mix. She decided to attempt a lemon version of "Death by Chocolate." I ended up making it. Newly dubbed "Death by Lemon," here it is:


Let's start with ingredients.
(1) Broken lemon poppyseed cake (let it cool completely first, then crumble it into pieces)
(2) Lemon Jell-o (quick-set with ice due to our time constraints).
(3) 2 packages of lemon instant pudding
(4) Whipped cream topping
(5) Crushed Lemonhead candies (or something like that)
(6) Lemon slice for garnish


Next, ordering of layers: I put a layer of Cool Whip on the bottom of the trifle bowl to begin with, to kind-of hold everything in place. Then a layer of crumbled pieces of the cake. On top of that went the Jell-o, which was a little tricky to "spread" but it worked. I mostly wanted the Jell-o for the brightness of color it would provide, but it added a lot of flavor, too. Then a layer of pudding, then Cool Whip, and repeat.

Somewhere in there you can add the crushed candies -- I did them on top of the cake before the Jell-o. I also sprinkled them on top as a garnish with the lemon slice:


As I ate the dessert, I had forgotten that the candy pieces were in there, and I was momentarily startled as I crunched down on them, until I remembered. I'm not sure what the other guests thought of them. I might not use them again in the future, except as garnish on top.

The final product...DEATH BY LEMON!!!


I thought of the many colorful possibilities that this adaptation provides, and could be used for different holidays. If you look carefully, you can find lime cake mix, and you could do a Death by Lime (for St. Patrick's Day?). I don't know that you could find a mix, but strawberry cake isn't all that difficult to make -- and wouldn't this be pretty for Valentine's day in red and pink?

Busy busy

I was out of town all weekend visiting with Ben's family. His younger brother Eli was turning eight years old, so we went for his baptism, and to spend the weekend. It was a lot of fun. I'll have a few pictures that I'll try to get up tonight.

Meanwhile, I'm busy doing laundry and packing for my trip to California. I leave on Thursday (yes, the day after tomorrow) and come back home the following Wednesday (a week form tomorrow). I'm going out there to attend the wedding of Ben's oldest brother Shawn, as well as visiting family and attending Lenny's funeral. I'll be busy. I intend to take lots of pictures to share.

But don't be surprised if I'm quiet for awhile.