Adventures in Pumpkin Roasting

I think that this is a sign that I have some sort of domestic illness. The principles from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are so fresh in my mind that I can't go and buy a 99 cent can of pumpkin puree for the soup that I'm making this week. Instead I aquired two medium sized pumpkins, and proceeded to roast them. I can't tell you how awesome my kitchen smelled when I did this! My mom helped me mash the cooked flesh and I separated them into exactly six one cup portions, one of which I'll be using shortly, and the rest I'll be freezing for later.

There are many pros to roasting a pumpkin: It was not that time consuming a project, it saved me money, the pumpkin will be fresher than canned and I got a bonus...the seeds! We let them soak in salt water to clean them off and then roasted those as well, after I sprinkled cinnamon and powdered ginger on them. Bestill my heart! These pumpkin seeds are the perfect salty/spicy snack.

I've gone on a crazed local linking binge over the past few days - which you can see at my delicious page. I've pretty much discovered that New Hampshire/New England rules - and there is much bounty to be enjoyed that I was never even aware of!

In other news, let me step off of my "buy-local" soapbox, I saw an incredible production of "The Piano" today up in Portland. Unfortunately it is the closing show - so if you weren't there today, you missed it. What a great play! I'm so lucky to have a husband work in a theatre - it means I get to score tickets to all of these lovely things.

Another one of those things was a dance concert that I saw last night. It was pretty amazing and made me both happy and sad at the same time. Seeing this particular concert reminded me of what I really want to be doing in the dance world...and I think that I've lost sight of that as of late. Some of you know I had a tragic, life-changing event happen nearly two years ago, and I think that one of the consequences of that event is that I lost a lot of my nerve. I used to be way more ballsy than I am now, and this dance concert made me see that even more. This was a tiny company, but it's very similar to what I envisioned my company to be. My company no longer exists. I go into the studio and everything I do feels contrived. Work has been less than fulfilling lately, and I'm not sure what to do about it.

Wow - this pumpkin post got heavy quick! I guess that I have a few things on my mind! Another thing that I've realized in the past two years is that life is a) precious and it is b) only what you make it. I'm still young, but every day that goes by where I'm not living to the fullest feels like a day wasted. I guess that about sums up how I'm feeling. I feel like I'm wasting my time working for someone else when I would be more successful just bucking up and working for myself.

Blardy blar.