This weekend, I had two out-of-town party offers but couldn’t make either due to money and responsibilities around here. Boo. Priority #1 was getting my space set up at a local boutique – I’m selling jewelry, knitted stuff, and other crafty items! I wanted to go ahead and put some items out, so I spent time on Thursday and Friday cataloging my inventory, marking prices, and getting display materials together.
Friday I got an invite to Kaycee’s house for a bonfire and pumpkin-carving party; I jumped at the chance since I wouldn’t be doing anything else social that weekend! We had (homemade!) baked potato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches…
…and played with puppehs.
Kaycee built a damn good fire, and we sat around it drinking hot apple cider, eating cookies and boiled peanuts, and roasting marshmallows
I even had a s’more!
No pumpkin-carving that night, though…too cold and too dark!
On Saturday, I cleaned while watching the Clemson game (I don’t wanna talk about it), and made the increasingly popular Real Simple butternut squash pizza (thanks, Rachel and Lizzie, for pushing me over the edge!). Instead of ricotta, I used goat cheese, and I drizzled the whole thing with some maple syrup before I baked it.
Damn, I love that oven.
I had Bottomless Pit Syndrome that day, so I made some kale chips later that afternoon. I’m not wild about these – they’re mostly a vehicle for condiments, and they make me feel like I’m chomping on autumn leaves.
For dinner, I had leftover pizza, but I used some of the extra squash that didn’t fit on the pizza in a salad with onions, dried cranberries, and more goat cheese. On top, I drizzled a vinaigrette made with oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, and maple syrup.
Sunday was pumpkin-carving day! We’ve gotten quite a few of these little decorative pumpkins in our produce boxes each week, so I used three to make eyes, ears, feet, and a nose for my owl, aptly named Darius (get it? like Hootie?)
I loves him.
What did you do for Halloween? What kind of pumpkin did you carve?