Happy Samhain!!

[janiepopps]

So have any of you been carving anything other than spoons??

Heres my efforts.........




Apologies for the camera shake, but tis almost witching hour ya know....!!

j

 

[leon-b]

i cant believe it but we havent even got a pumpkin this year
ps great pumpkin carving
leon

 

[Jodie]

That's excellent janiepopps! Mine are all smiley faces with no noses.

I excelled myself this weekend and carved 'pumpkin faces' in oranges
and a red pepper. The oranges work really well (we filled them with
fruit and sweeties for my niece) but I've not tried them with a tea light
candle (predicting failure as there's not much space to burn the candle
in!) yet. Lots of mess as well (the oranges), although a lot more delicious
raw than pumpkins are.

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

Blessing to you all

 

[janiepopps]

And to you Spikey!

And cheers guys!!!! (who says its for kids.....?)

j

 

[Toddy]

I usually carve a big neep...........they look really scary, pumpkins are friendly happy things


May your year always have fuel for the hearth, food for the pot, peace on the house, and health for the family and beasts.
atb,
Toddy

 

[janiepopps]

You too Toddy. Anyone doing anything special tomorrow??

j

 

[Jodie]

Visiting niece number two. Six months old so she won't be fussed
about pumpkins and will gurn cutely at anything she can focus on

While doing a pumpkin the other day (for pumpkin curry) I did start
to wish that I had 'a really good knife for this sort of thing'. I see how
it all starts

 

[janiepopps]

Visiting niece number two. Six months old so she won't be fussed
about pumpkins and will gurn cutely at anything she can focus on

While doing a pumpkin the other day (for pumpkin curry) I did start
to wish that I had 'a really good knife for this sort of thing'. I see how
it all starts

Its a slippery slope Jodie........!

I was all excited this year as I thought I could get some extra use out of my crook knife - perfect for cutting the 'meat' away. When I cracked open the above pumpkin, the flesh turned out to be about an inch thick... Thats what the Asda label meant when it said it was a 'carving pumpkin'

 

[Bisamratte]

You too Toddy. Anyone doing anything special tomorrow??

j

Hiding from the kids....






....In the pub (my german isn't good enough to understand the abuse they will give me because I have already eaten all the sweets)

 

[Jodie]

My parents used to have a fantastic spoon / fork device (for carving flesh
out of melons) which had the fork-y serrated bit at the side - ideal for
pumpkins. I use a regular spoon but it's agony on the hands.

The recipe I was using suggested covering the outside of the pumpkin
in vegetable oil first and heating for twenty minutes to soften the flesh.

I ended up grappling with a pumpkin that was too hot and covered in oil.
Not a great suggestion (especially as I have a gas-fired oven and was
just waiting for it to whooff up in flames).

 

[Bisamratte]

My parents used to have a fantastic spoon / fork device (for carving flesh
out of melons) which had the fork-y serrated bit at the side - ideal for
pumpkins. I use a regular spoon but it's agony on the hands.

A sharpened spoon works well, just use an old metal spoon and grind one edge. A bit of material / padding on the handle also helps.

 

[Toddy]

You too Toddy. Anyone doing anything special tomorrow??

j

Meeting with friends and a remembrance for a Colin who died exactly a year ago.

Toddy

 

[janiepopps]

Thoughts are with you Toddy.

j

 

[gregorach]

Aye - merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again. Happy New Year!

 

[chrisanson]

Wassail to all
chris

 

[stovie]

Wassail

Drink'ail !

 

[Burnt Ash]

My parents used to have a fantastic spoon / fork device (for carving flesh
out of melons) which had the fork-y serrated bit at the side - ideal for
pumpkins. I use a regular spoon but it's agony on the hands.

Tip for next year.
We have a particular dessert spoon that has quite a sharp edge at the tip, that curls inwards very slightly (i.e., in towards the bowl of the spoon). If you grip the spoon well up the shaft, with your thumb actually resting in the bowl of the spoon and draw towards you, you'll find it quite mechanically efficient and less tiring. Once I'd shown him how to use it, our 14 year old son hollowed out his Halloween pumpkin without much problem. Pumpkin soup tonight.

Incidentally, the end of the handle of this particular spoon has been filed to make a small spoon shaped scraper. I use both ends when gutting fish to scrape out the swim bladder and the kidney (the bloody matter that lies along the backbone).

Burnt Ash

 

[Silverback]

Here is one of mine from this year (I did 5!!) and two reasons why I don't get out bushcrafting as often as I would like