Back in Ann Arbor we had many little Carolina Wrens about the yard and I loved their perky demeanor and tidy little stick nests. They were particularly cute hopping upside down the trunk in the white birch right outside my office window. Now I know just one Wren in Ann Arbor but she is pretty perky, too and brings a lot to the birders in our blog neighborhood.
Nice weekend, with some time away from felting. I did spend yesterday rendering some of that carload of squash and pumpkins I hauled back from North Carolina into edible ingredients. I had picked out quite an assortment, gave a bunch away to friends here and used the rest for Halloween decor, minus carving. I decided if I roast 4 or 5 a weekend we’ll go through all of them, although heaven only knows what I’ll do with 50# of assorted squash/pumpkin puree in freezer bags…Send in your favorite recipes now, please. Because I had picked up some unusually attractive heirloom varieties I’m also seed saving so there are little paper towels covered with various seeds drying out around the house.
Here are two of my favorite recipes for squash soup- one with a bite and one without. And you can also use pumpkin or a mix thereof.
Roasted Hazelnut and squash soup
1 med. butternut squash (acorn squash or fresh pumpkin)
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. whole roasted hazelnuts (almonds, walnuts, or pecans. I used Georgia pecans we bought on our trip home.)
1 qt. chicken broth
1 c. whipping cream
White pepper
Salt
Fresh grated nutmeg
1 c. dairy sour cream
1/4 c. coarsely chopped roasted nuts
Halve squash lengthwise; remove seeds. Place cut side up in shallow baking dish. Bake in 400 degree oven about 1 hour or until soft. Don’t add water. Scoop out pulp; set aside. In a large saucepan, cook onion in butter until tender. Stir in squash and 1/2 cup nuts. Stir in broth. Cook over medium low heat for 30 minutes. Transfer about 1/4 of soup to blender container. Cover; blend smooth. Repeat with remaining soup. Return to saucepan. Stir in cream and season with some white pepper, nutmeg and salt. Bring just to boiling. Remove from heat. Season to taste. Ladle into bowls, topping with a dollop of sour cream and some of remaining nuts. 8 to 10 servings.
And here’s one with some kick to it- yum!
Curried squash soup
2 2-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped peeled apple
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste*
2 14-ounce cans low-salt chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons honey
6 tablespoons sour cream, stirred to loosen
Chopped fresh cilantro
Preheat oven to 375°F. Brush cut side of squash with oil; place squash, cut side down, on large rimmed baking sheet. Roast until tender, about 1 hour. Cool slightly. Scoop squash out into large bowl. Measure 3 cups squash (reserve any remaining squash for another use).
Melt butter in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, and apple; sauté 5 minutes. Add curry paste; stir 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, bay leaves, and 3 cups squash. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered 1 hour. Discard bay leaves. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return to same pot. Stir in cream and honey. Season with salt and pepper. Rewarm over medium-high heat.
Divide soup among bowls. Drizzle with sour cream; sprinkle with cilantro.
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Rich played golf and one of his buddies got this phone picture of Rich discussing his next shot with this golfer gopher tortoise. I love these guys so I was a little jealous not to see him but it puts me in a mind to take out the tram next time I’m down at Boyd Hill and toodle around to the place where all the gophers nest. Maybe I’ll get some good photos.
We ended the weekend with another seasonal meal at our neighbor friends, Rich and Marion. They are also transplants from the north; here in Florida you’re either a native Cracker, a Snowbird or one of a large crowd that just seems to have slid downhill to the bottom of the country. (To wit, this digression: Abby overhead this conversation at the zoo here recently: “Is that a min-key?” “Nah, looks like a ‘coon.” “Lemme try and read this sign. It says it’s a Rang Tail LaMar!”) Marion is first generation so she made Polish Kapusta (sauerkraut) with shredded pork and polish sausage. It had simmered away for a whole day and then been held over for one more for the flavor to fully develop. My Rich thought he was on his way to heaven, as this dish was a childhood memory of his favorite foods. We got into a discussion about classic family dishes that were served when autumn rolled around.(We’re pretending it’s autumn here in St. Petersburg.) I remembered New England Boiled Dinner and Marion’s Rich remembered Toucan Supper, which consisted of these two items:
Toucans. Get it? Then we all started to remember Spam with brown sugar and it was a downhill slide from there until Marion served homemade pumpkin pie. Guess where the pumpkin came from? 
…and, despite a huge crisis of confidence, turned it all in. Just as I was packing my boxes I got an email from my friend in Minnesota who is going to Camp PluckyFluff next weekend to do some extreme fiber spinning. By then I was so over the top that we got to laughing hard about Camp FucknFelt here at my house and agreed that this time next year we could be running the BCMA camp from a base in Asheville. I dropped off my work at the gallery and we got it all barcoded and they seemed very pleased with it and asked me to help them with the holiday windows.
And then I fed the hawk. She (Shadow) took her sweet ass time because it was mouse day and she really savours those long stringy innards. She’s a big bird and so, although I start out with her on the glove at a good social distance for the two of us, by the end of mouse day my arm has dropped and we’re practically beak to nose as she dines in leisurely fashion. If she shakes her head to clear her beak I’m in precisely the right spot to get it on my glasses. And then she gives me that sidelong look as though to say, “You have mess on your face.”
Then I cleaned the house. Yes, I did. And yesterday morning, bright and early, I headed down to the EarthBox Research Center and bought the seedlings for my winter garden and some new covers and fertilizer and came home and got those planted up. Blake Whisenant, EarthBox inventor, was still there, still planting and we said hello and laughed about surviving another summer. This is really perverse; where I come from everyone comes outdoors on April 1st and smiles about surviving another winter. Then I stopped at the bead store briefly. Soon we had hundreds of little goblins and witches on the doorstep for trick or treat. Halloween is huge in St. Petersburg, especially here in the Old Northeast, where streets get closed off and the houses decorated beyond your wildest imagination. They are themed (Harry Potter, Wizard of Oz and this year an incredible Thriller display that included Jackson rising from the dead in a graveyard and a huge video screen playing the original Michael Jackson music video. News crews come out from all over, there are contests and children are brought in by the busloads from other parts of town to enjoy the sights and sounds. After bedtime, the adults take over with rolling golf cart bars, giant porch parties and a live music stage. It’s basically the scariest, spookiest and biggest block party ever. After we handed out candy we walked around with the neighbors for about an hour and then I was done. Have I mentioned that it seems to be hot down here? We hit 91 Friday and yesterday evening was still extremely muggy and hot.
(Burial versus cremation? )
These are both news photos. The streets were so crowded and wild that I didn’t carry my camera. Rich estimates that t one point there were a couple thousand people out in our three block area.
(This looked REALLY scary at night. Just saying.)
Hot or not, nevertheless. It is November 1st and I’m planning to use my extra hour to bake down some of these Halloween pumpkin and squash for soup, freezing and later use. I’ve had two delicious soups from squash recently and that’s saying a lot for someone who grew up hating squash. It’s definitely one of those veggies that’s good for the times; you can get a lot of bang for the buck. Recipes tomorrow. (You think I’m kidding, right? I’m not. I’ve decided to rejoin the neighborhood in my usual starts and fits manner and make-another-attempt to get up at least a few posts a week.)
Haven’t seen much of you lately. At 230 this afternoon, the art that is lost in this mess moves to the Florida Craftsman Gallery and I’ll head down to feed the hawks and owls. And then, I hope to begin the road back to the real (clean and tidy) world. Somewhere in there are some pumpkins to be carved or baked or both.
(“Retire! Get a hobby!” he said. Here’s Rich, happily reading the morning paper with his cup of coffee. )
(McCloud is the guardian of felted Christmas ornaments. At night, they turn into wild birds that need to be subdued…)
See you soon!
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