The occupations of an invalid

[desperance]

It is ridiculous in me to be this enfeebled, in the second week of a cold; but nevertheless. I do feel totally crap today, and am keeping mostly to the couch and the kitchen. Tonight I have yogis to feed, but they're mostly getting leftovers and whatever I can throw together.

I was meaning to start them with soup, but I think perhaps not. I don't think anything can save this pumpkin. I have roasted it and whizzed it up with garlic and onion, I have mixed it with chicken stock and enriched it with cream and spiced it with chilli and vadouvan (which is by way of being my new favourite casual-curry spice mix), and even so: there's an underlying bitterness I can't shift, which is most discouraging. Bitterness has its place, but not in soup. I think it must just have been a bad pumpkin, some odd mongrel crossbreed that would never come to good.

I shall eat it nevertheless, because soup (and because I have garlic curds from yesterday to melt in it, and lemon/olive bread to eat with); but not impose it on my friends, because friendship.

Otherwise, I plan to spend my afternoon immersing things in vodka. Mostly vanilla beans, but also the Buddha's hand I fetched home from the farmers' market. Where I was very bad, and sold at least two more to passers-by on the pretence of deep experience that I truly do not have. Also I might invent buddhacello. I am not myself so fond of sweet liqueurs, but this seems an opportunity not to be missed, what with gift-giving season looming up. I am badly in need of a source of attractive bottles and jars; I suppose one goes to the internet?

Comments

[movingfinger]

Not all pumpkins are edible. You have to look carefully for sugar pumpkins. I was always told that they typically have a golden netting pattern on the skin, I do not know whether that is true, but they certainly run much smaller than decorative pumpkins.

Decorative pumpkins usually don't taste like much. Sounds like that's what you got.