In the spirit of Thanksgiving (and mostly because I was home alone until 4 pm on that day and had two pumpkins lying around),

I attempted my first pumpkin pie – from scratch! Delicious idea, yes. Delicious result, yes. Happy process? Not at all.

Being new to pumpkin-cooking, I naturally googled how best to get to become

The internet told me I could either cut and peel the pumpkin and then boil it for 25 minutes, OR I could halve and bake it for one hour and then scoop out the pulp.

Well. My first mistake was not thinking about how much time it’d take to peel a pumpkin, and thus choosing the first method based on quickness alone.

For anyone who does not know this — pumpkins have a very thick flesh and a very tough skin…. they are very attached to each other as well. The pumpkin does not take kindly to anyone trying to separate it from its beautiful covering.

It is definitely much harder than peeling, say, an apple or orange. And, because of this thick skin, it is almost impossible to think of peeling it with anything less than a very large, very sharp knife. I’m sure you see where this is going, but I shall continue for the sake of completion. Long story short, I made a very large cut in my left thumb that began to bleed like crazy. Luckily, I was able to stay fairly calm and rubber band a wash cloth to my finger whilst I dumped our entire first aid kit into the floor in order to find gauze and tape.

I looked ever so lovely that evening at Cory’s parents’ house with a huge gauze thumb

and my nice white dress with blue flowers on it. =/

But do not worry, the pumpkin got its just reward and became a delicious homemade, from scratch, pie.

Not wanting to repeat the same mistake twice, I baked the other pumpkin and it turned out beautifully. The only downside is that a baked, scooped-out pumpkin resembles an old, deflated basketball. Which is gross.

Summary! => Ashley’s Pumpkin Do’s and Dont’s:
DO bake your pumpkin to remove its skin from delicious pulp.
DO make a pie from scratch (more delicious!).
DON’T use a very large very sharp knife to peel anything this thick.
DON’T wear gauze as an accessory unless necessary, as it is very unflattering on any shape or size.