punkin pie

I took a break from packing this morning to go buy a gourd to make punkin pie. I have never known the name of the gourd that I have always used (neither have those who sold it to me), but I looked it up today and it's a Hubbard Squash!

It weighed over 20 pounds, so breaking it into manageable pieces required a hatchet and a toss into the air over a concrete porch.

The task of cutting off the rind was lengthy but yielded me about 12 pounds of meat:



Thomas cooked the squash for me while I chopped the rest into pieces.

After cooking and a quick spin in the Cuisinart, I have a fantastic-tasting goo to which I'll add molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, orange zest, eggs, condensed milk... and some other stuff to make the pie filling.




I defy any of those "I don't like pumpkin pie" types to try this and not enjoy it.

Driving

Check this out. We're planning to do a little driving over the next few days, and I want to know what to expect as gas prices go. Bladow! The Gas Price Temperature Map! You can zoom in from nationwide county averages to actual reported gas station prices! Cool, eh?

For those interested, here's our shed yule:

Friday: Becky get out of school at 3. We head down Albuquerque way and I-40 heading West like Dust Bowlers
Saturday: Hang out in Apple Valley a little, make it to Fresno for the evening
Sunday: Chillax in the No, Reedley for dinner, back to the No for the night
Monday: Becky & Becky around 1pm, Late '90s FPU VBall team reunion, make the rest up as we go.
Tuesday: Mid-morning departure to get back to CO for Wed
Wednesday: Finish the drive, sleep some, AnderFam hangout
Thursday: Turkey, Football, Bocce (unless it snows), naps!
Friday: Sangwiches, probably catch Twilight unless we see it some time before then
Saturday through 7 Dec: homework (Que Debbie Downer Trombone)