weekend update, October 6, 2012

"We cannot seek or attain health,learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique."
 

Today's little irony is that I cannot tell you, specifically, to whom to attribute this quote. And that's a specific injustice to either John Dewey or Benjamin Jowett, because I found both of them credited with this energizing observation.

Fortunately, the truth of the statement doesn't depend on who said it. Learning (and all that other good stuff) indeed happens in specifics, and this week has been filled with so many wonderful specifics! Or, to say things more plainly, THIS WEEK I LEARNED SO MUCH!!!!!!
 

Let's go first to the lessons gleaned from this week's most interesting classroom, our local pumpkin patch.

I stood there, in the middle of about a hundrety varieties of gourds, squashes and pumpkins, having decided to go home with a familiar type, and NOT take a chance on something unknown, when I met them. The pumpkin whisperers.

This is Toni, winter squash whisperer.
She knows a thing or two about great pumpkins.
And a thing or three about great cooking.

 

Pumpkins are indeed just a winter squash, say these hospitable experts. Full of nutritional goodness, with a shelf life of months if they're left uncut. The big orange jack-o-lantern ones are grown to be big and colorful and carvity, not to be tasty. But...this one, this one, this one, this one and this one.....perfect. Even those little teeny ones, which Toni cuts in half, sprinkles with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and bakes until tender.
Magic.

 I left with a big Blue Hubbard, a round golden Cheddar (Toni says in past years the Cheddar went by the less specific name Cheese) and a beautiful blue-green Jarrahdale.

Inspiring aren't they? (at this point, my mum is hoping
that I took the time to roast the seeds.
yes, mum, I sure did)

As Toni had suggested, I made use of the natural bowl shape of the cheddar pumpkin, and filled it with this stuff:

Stuffed Butternut Squash

               

And it turned out like this:

The Jarrahdale looks on enviously.
Don't worry, little Jarrahdale, when you
grow up, I'm sure you'll turn out just as nice.

I just stirred all the filling ingredients together (including the apple, which was listed in the ingredients, and not mentioned in the instructions) and baked it.  

The next day,which turned out to be the first truly cold day of Autumn, the Blue Hubbard turned into a pumpkin apple soup so nice that it deserved to be spooned into my favorite flea-market china bowl.




 

I started with a basic soup:
butternut squash or pumpkin soup
and then added some diced apple that I'd sauteed in butter till it was tender, and stirred in some evaporated milk to bisque it up a little.

Other things I learned this week? Well, I'm glad you asked!
A. I have a favorite new acronym: TIL. It means Today I Learned. Those youngsters on the interwebs! They learn so much, and share so much learning with each other, that they invented an acronym to make it easier! Just one more reason to love those inquisitive youngsters.
2. The Link tab on the blogger dashboard? It opens  links in a new window, so that you, valued reader,  don't have to leave this page to view a recipe. Fun! (Thank you Andrew!)
Third: If you're going to marinate beef in red wine, make sure it's red wine, and not, say, a purpley merlot. Because if you use a purpley merlot, you may turn $12 worth of beef into a gray-purple something best eaten blindfolded.

It's even less appetizing in real life.
I've intiated a rescue attempt,
but we may be dining by (very weak) candlelight.

I hope good meals and good memories filled the week past, and that this week starts well for all of you. I hope  that the tasks greeting you in the morning are managable and meaningful, and that the things you learn each day are things filled with love and wonder.
More autumn menus posted by Wednesday morning!