187 Pound Pumpkin!

Growing up in Las Vegas, I remember that it was always cold by the time Halloween rolled around.  Believe it or not, it gets cold in the desert.  We always had to wear our coats (maybe even gloves) over our costumes, you could see your breath as you ran down the street from house to house.  I guess global warming has changed all of that.  It has been chilly here the last couple of days, but by Saturday it’s supposed to be around 75 degrees.

Now that I am all grown up, (at least by my age) Halloween to me means carving pumpkins, putting on a great “winter dish” like chilli or hamburger stew (recipe to follow).  See in Vegas it is so hot here in the summer, that at least in my family, we have what we call winter and summer dishes.  My honey thought that was so funny when I would say “I’m not gonna make hamburger stew that’s a winter dish, it’s a 110 degrees outside”! 

Young and I love to carve pumpkins to have on the porch when the kids come a knocking on Halloween.  A couple of years ago for some reason we didn’t have time to get some pumpkins, Halloween was on a Wednesday or something.  So a couple nights before, Young all pouty faced said to me “I guess were not gonna carve pumpkins this year”. 

Well I had to run over to the grocery store so I thought I’ll check and see if they had any pumpkins left.  As I walked into the doors there it was a giant pumpkin!  No others to be had, they were all out.  So I asked one of the clerks if this huge pumpkin was for sale, she didn’t know, she would have to get the manager.  So the manager came over and said yes and since it’s so close to Halloween I let you have it for $35.  Then he said it weighs 187 pounds!

What!  187 pounds!  My husband is gonna jump for joy like a kid on Christmas morning!  I’ll take it!  It was night time and the only young strong men that were in or near that store was the college kids coming in and out to get their booze for what ever party they were going to. 

So I watched as the manager and another man struggled to put it on a flat bed cart.  I thought how are they going to lift that thing up into my Expedition.  Then I remember the college kids in the parking lot! So I turned on the southern charm, no I’m not from the south but for some reason all of my life I have been asked if I am from the south, my response is always yes, Southern Nevada!  “Hey y’all can you help them get this pumpkin in my car”.  They were so flabbergasted at the size of this thing (187 pounds) they were jumping at the bit to help.

It took an act of congress and a hand truck for me and my husband to get it out of the car and up the drive way, but the joy on his face when he saw he had a pumpkin to carve was, well you know, priceless.

Wrinkles & Sputters could both put their heads in this pumpkin!

He had a lot of fun with the girls carving that pumpkin!  Now if your hungry, the next post has my recipe for Hamburger Stew.  This is a dish that my Granny and my Mom would make when it was really cold outside.  It goes great with a slice of bread and butter and a big glass of milk!