octopus-man, deux choses avec une citrouille, and a Bizarre Occurence.

I have a number of interesting things to share. First of all, I've been cooking a lot but somehow always forget to take pictures until after it's all eaten up.

Andy's cousin is an art major at PSU and gets to make all sorts of fun things. She knitted this octopus for one of her classes and brought it over to show. It was insanely good and the yarn was amazing!


I bought a pumpkin at the Farmer's Market and cooked it for the first time. I was/am determined to use fresh pumpkin because although canned pumpkin is incredibly convenient and wonderful, I wanted to know what REAL pumpkin tasted like.

So, every Wednesday we have a chili party at our house with Andy's cousin and another one of our friends dropped by today. None of the canned chili junk. I made a colorful, festive pumpkin chili that was very tasty! Honestly, I just threw it together like I always do but here's kind of what I did.

1. Saute your chopped onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the ovoo. What's the surprise? PUMPKIN! Yes, I chopped up about a 1/2 cup-ish fresh pumpkin and threw it in the pot with the o, g, and rpf's. After soft and fragrant, add a tablespoon of cocoa powder and stir.

2. Add 2 cans of diced tomatoes in juice, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add 2 cans of whatever beans you like. I used red kidney beans and black beans. Add some chili powder, maybe some paprika. I also throw in a few frozen cubes of homemade chicken broth, just to give it a flavor and health boost. I added some frozen sweet corn in the last 5 minutes.

3. Simmer till delicious. Season to taste. Eat with cheese, sour cream, and frito chips.

What else did I make? Gluten-free pumpkin oatmeal muffins. They were OK, nothing a little irish butter can't improve :).

The weirdest thing yet! How did these tongs get jammed onto this spatula? Neither Andy or I can get it off, no matter how we try to maneuver it or pull on it. It's on there tight! I just really don't know how to explain this phenomenon. And it's my favorite spatula...so it sits on our table until we can figure out a way to pull it off without breaking something.