DESIGN TIP OF THE WEEK:
I like to enjoy the holiday decorations as long as the fresh greens stay fresh. Then when I take them out I redo some of my accessories instead of just putting things back where they were. It gives a fresh start to the new year.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK:
Strauss "Gypsy Baron"
by: Heide Browne
mixed media
22X 28
$250
STORY OF THE WEEK:
THE WHITNEY CHRONICLES - "PUMPKIN AGAIN", PART ONE
Hi Glenda,
Happy Holidays! Just wanted to share this year's pumpkin story with you. Yesterday I got up determined that this would be the day I "dealt with the pumpkin"...Somehow this Halloween pumpkin dominates my life until I cook it...I can't seem to just throw it on the compost pile...it must be eaten! And I have torn out a wonderful recipe from a design magazine...it's a complicated recipe (at least for me)...but the photo of "Crusted Pumpkin Wedges with Sour Cream" looks scrumptious...
now to turn a large, hard as a rock pumpkin into perfect wedges requires a power saw...but a serated knife with a threateningly large blade will have to do and as thoughts of a trip to the emergency room loom...I force the tip of the blade into the pumpkin and try to cut it open. It's not possible, the knife just stays stuck. I heave it out and try again. No luck. But help is on the way, Heide comes into the kitchen with an offer of help, so we both arm ourselves with knives ready and thrust them into the pumpkin, trying to slice it open. After much struggling, we get it open and split into two big sections...not perfectly shaped, not symmetrical, not even halves...but open. Then we begin to remove all the "gunk" of the seeds and strings that fill the middle...a real sticky mess. Lots of scraping and pulling. Now to try to make uniformly shaped "pumpkin wedges" that look like half-moons. Not possible. I try and try, and finally settle for any size slices that I can carve that resemble curved wedges. This is very hard work, takes strong muscles and perseverance and it is not made any easier by the fact that I "saved/stored" this pumpkin from Halloween until mid-December. It is drying up, so the "wedges" do not look like half moons, but rather brand New Moons... very slim "wedges".
And to backtrack, I forgot to tell you that since I seem to be so worried about facing this beast that looms over my head, rather than clearing the decks and planning nothing else to do on "pumpkin" day except attack this pumpkin...instead I start a load of washing that needs to be tended, with slippers that have to be removed before the spin cycle...and I roll the kitchen island away from the wall by the stove, out into the middle of the room, remove everything that is stored on it's top and shelves...and those cannisters, the wok, pots and pans and mixing bowls fill the top of the kitchen table and half of the kitchen counters...so everything that was neatly tucked away has now escaped all over the kitchen. Then I'm faced with cleaning the walls behind the island and the floor under the island...an unpleasant task as I try to determine what those green blobs are...(old spinach leaves)...I then question my "thought I was a good housekeeper" house cleaning capabilities. Then I spy the dishwasher (which is blocked by the island and which we don't use on a daily basis) and decide to send through a load of glasses and vases, so they will sparkle for the holidays. While removing them all from the shelves above the sink and filling the dishwasher, I decide that the cups that hang from these shelves also need washing, so I fill the sink with hot soapy water and put all the cups into it. Now the other side of the kitchen is completely filled with a variety of projects that will require my time and attention. And I remember that last year when I "transformed" the pumpkin I chose to do it on the day when plumbers were installing a new hot water heater and I had no water during the "pumpkin process". Deja vu...how have I managed to re-create another almost impossible situation? Heide walks into the kitchen, and I know she is thinking "not again!". But she lends a hand.
And I realize that maybe, just maybe the terror that this pumpkin causes me, spins me out of control and causes me to try to distract myself...Not a good plan...Where is the motto "one thing at a time", which especially should be applied if the One Thing is a big one! Self-realization has come, but not before I have completed wrecked the kitchen.
And the pumpkin is slashed wide open... so I must proceed ahead... the crusted wedges must be conquered!
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