Last night the Dalldorfs joined us for the annual pumpkin carving evening – here everything is readied before we have a hearty meal of curry and rice… and then the big carve starts!
The first thing to do is to cut a neat lid in the top of the pumpkin and then hollow it out. Wilhelm saved a lot of the seeds, so we will probably have to taste roasted pumpkin seed in the near future!
With the seed removed there remains just about an inch of flesh around the inside of a very thin pumkin skin.
Huge concentration follows as each participant transfers a pattern to the pumpkin – the paper version is taped to the now-hollow pumpkin and all the outlines are transferred to the pumkin by pricking through the paper with a sharp little instrument. Taking off the paper leaves the pumkin full of little dots and a daunting task lies ahead…
With a small miniature saw, the dots are followed and you cut out parts of the pumkin – whith the flesh nice and firm, it is surprising how thin and fine the details are that can be achieved.
While waiting for the bold carvers with the intricate designs to finish, a cup of hot chocolate and pecan pie tastes like heaven.
At last the last stragglers have cut the chimney holes in the pumpkin lids and the candles can be placed inside. A messy vegetable (without any appreciable taste) turns to magic when the lights are turned off:
Our Evening was pure fun!
See some contest winners at this site