This year, when I went apple picking, I bought a pumpkin for my friend Anne. The plan, at least in my mind, was to carve the pumpkin, and make pumpkin bread and other delicious items. The squirrels in Anne's neighborhood had other ideas. They viewed my pumpkin as a giant doorstep snack, eating it bit by bit. In addition to being rude, doesn't that seem like a sign of Armageddon? Like first the locusts will come, after it will rain frogs, and then the squirrels will eat the pumpkins. You know, right before the flood. Oh dear.
This is a long way to say I used canned pumpkin for my pumpkin bread. The recipe is here. I like the addition of dark chocolate chips.
I did a quick search on the INTERNETS for ideas on how to protect your halloween pumpkins. Turns out squirrel eating pumpkins are quite common. I guess that shouldn't surprise me. Pumpkins are food and leaving them on your doorstep is a little like decorating your bushes with bananas (if you live in Africa). My friend Lesley says the easiest way to protect your pumpkin is to slather it in vaseline and sprinkle it with hot pepper.
