No tricks, no treats, just pumpkin

We don't do halloween in our house. M and I enjoy the odd scary movie but don't really understand the hype of dressing up children to look really scary and sending them out to collect chocolate. But every year when the halloween stuff comes out in the shops, I always think to myself "what does pumpkin taste like". I like the flavours of
butternut squash, sweet potato and carrot and this is what I like to think pumpkin tastes like. No one seems to give me a straight answer about the flavour. So when I saw a pumpkin on sale in Tesco for 75p I thought that I might as well buy one and try it for myself!

Although we don't "celebrate" halloween, I could not resist carving something into the pumpkin before I took it's inside out to eat. It took a while to scoop the seeds and the flesh out and was quite a messy job. The pumpkin flesh smelt stronger than butternut squash so I assume it will be a similar taste. I them traced 6 star shapes around the outside and cut them out using a small, sharp knife. It took me around 5 minutes to carve the pumpkin and I think it looks really good! The glow you get once a candle is inside is gorgeous, so warming. 

My plan for the flesh was  to make Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins. I would have made them this evening but I ran out of enthusiasm for anything but sitting back with a cup of tea! If we decide that we like the taste of pumpkins then I may try to get one just before Christmas and we can carve it with Christmas shapes (I think smaller stars randomly placed stars would look good), and have it lit up on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day evening. The orangey glow next to the Christmas tree would look so cosy.