I hope so too. Every year my Dad grows potatoes and every year he's late with the planting. I'd like to get some runner beans going. Maybe Ill start weeding and de-rocking the vegetable patch early this year. (Our garden used to be storage for a building company. We've removed most of the stuff they left but there's still a load of rocks to take out of the soil. We only tend to get pumpkins when we have Halloween. The rest of the year it's squashes and that's it. I may try that. How long do you have to cook it for? And do you cook it while adding the spices?

Not really. Thunder and lighting there wasn't but the pressure front! Ouch! I had the worst headache and so did almost everyone else! Then the rain hit with high winds. Freezing cold too. I live close to the sea. Far enough in land that the ocean can't get to us but the weather comes straight off the sea. Mostly it's been just above freezing. We don't really get snow in our area but we do get plenty of ice. I live in the UK yes. There's a LOT of weather here. Our climate is so changeable that half the time our weather reports get it wrong. We only have about 80% accuracy on our reports. One of the main reasons why we like to talk about it so much. If you like I can keep reporting on what happens this winter.

Wow that must be brutal with the cold, I've noticed near freezing can be way worse than actual snow on account of the dampness carrying it though everything. Sounds really pretty looking though. The weather is unpredictable like that here too, we get big warnings for hurricanes that never hit and then sudden massive storms that nobody saw coming. One of our major parks got washed away this year by a storm that snuck in unannounced. I'd love to hear about it if anything interesting happens on your end. The islands can be so isolated from what the rest of the world is experiencing it's nice to get news.

After halloween here, pumpkins can get pretty cheap so sometimes I buy some smaller ones then and cook them for autumn pies. I never add the spices until I'm ready to make a pie, though I reckon if you were going to freeze it just for pies or muffins, you could add it after it was cooked and before freezing. I usually make just enough for a pie and some muffins.

I did find this post that basically shows how i do it.

There's this recipe for pumpkin pie that someone said was great, though I haven't tried it in particular. It's by Nancy Fuller who is semi well known on the cooking channels here in the US. I tend to go with Alton Brown's recipes, because his almost always are just exactly right, though!

To be honest, most of the time I buy the canned pumpkin simply for ease, but I do love making things from scratch and this is definitely fun to do if you get the chance!

Hi! Glad you are back. :)

Hi! Thank you.

True. The cold and wet weather is the combo that will usually make it worse. My mother calls it a Lazy Wind because it doesn't go around you but through you and takes any warmth you have with it. I don't know if I'd call it pretty. The sky is very grey and not much sun gets through. With the trees bare and the cold wet weather it can get a little depressing. But not to worry. There are other things to be happy about. Your weather sounds like a challenge! I hope it isn't too bad and you can enjoy the winter and spring. I'll let you know if anything interesting happens. I did go to the Historic Dock Yards the other day. That was fun. They finished building the Mary Rose Museum for the wreck of the Mary Rose. Henry VIII's flag ship that sank during the Battle of the Solent. It's a really interesting but strange exhibition. The keep the wreck in lighting like it's still underwater. Occasionally they show footage of what it must have been like on board when the ship was in use. The film is superimposed on the remains. Strange but lovely. Anything interesting going on for you?

Thank you for the recipe. I may give it a try if I see some small pumpkins. I prefer making stuff from scratch as it's better for you and it's easier to flavor if it goes a bit wrong. Tinned and frozen foods either have weird flavors or textures. It would be interesting to see what I end up with.

Ooh that museum actually sounds really cool! Thank you for the well-wishes, I find storms pretty thrilling so as long as nobody gets hurt I don't mind. The mugginess and vog between storms is usually the worst part for me. I can definitely see how that weather would get depressing, it also has a certain picturesque quality to it that I've always liked. I'm kind of fascinated by Atlantic scenery since it's not something I've really gotten to see in person. I hope it doesn't bring you down too much though. I like your mother's sense of humor, I never would have thought of it like that myself.

There's not a while lot of news on my end, we're getting what's called Kona winds, which blow strongly and from the opposite direction than normal, so everything's weirdly chaotic. Oh and Big Island is having a pretty huge eruption right now, which only really means more vog and heat over here, but I heard there's some awesome footage of the lava that I haven't gotten around to seeing yet. I can post a link when I find it if you like.

Have we picked up on a new thread somewhere? I am finally done with my Technical Degree-Accounting Assistant and can finally join in on the fun.

We were just sort of chatting on a forum during survival but as far as I know this is still the go to for us all!

How are you?

We've been having more storms. Friday night was absolutely horrible! Heavy rain, high winds and cold temperatures. Not fun. With Spring on the way we're hoping for rain. The winter has been dry and we need a little more water. I hope things are better where you are. Did yu get all the stains you wanted?

I don't think we've changed threads. We had the normal chatterbox kissing thread for the Survival with chatting but outside of that this is still our main chatting thread. It's nearly 100 pages long now that I look. Congratulations on your degree!!! Bravo on all you're hard work! I'm glad to hear your taking a break for a bit. Have you gotten your results yet?