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Happy Thursday!  What a hot week we had again!  I feel like I'd be okay with the seasons shifting so that falltime was really summer weather, as long as I could count on a full non-stop season of it.  A few weeks here and there throughout the year just isn't in the spirit of things.

What IS in the spirit is all these squashes I have downstairs.  Basically I've been telling myself I'm cooking with "pumpkin" but I haven't even cut open an actual pumpkin yet.  Let me tell you about the line up.

The kabocha had quite a yield.  Diced in curry last week; steamed the other half.  The puree made an appetizer-sized soup (1 can coconut milk, two cloves garlic pureed, half inch ginger pureed, salt, pepper, curry powder, pinch of cinnamon, dab of mango chutney), a batch of ice cream, and the cup or so leftover went into another curry base this week.

Buttercup squash:  Half, diced, in the new curry (1 leek, quartered and diced; 1 carrot, diced; garlic and ginger as above; salt and pepper; curry powder by the spoonful; the kabocha puree; cashew bits; 1 can coconut milk; splash of vegetable stock; fresh cilantro).  Has a nice, yam-potato quality.  The other half, steamed and mashed, went into a gingersnap recipe.  Can't tell squash is in your cookies, but they do have a nice fluffy cake-like consistency.

My mom came and visited me at school today and we went over and got another arm load of squashes.  Here's the haul:

Acorn squash:  Bought one with the buttercup but don't know what to do with it.  Got another one today and my mom baked it, right?  I came home and tried a fork of it, but it's one of those... wormy? fibrous? mealy? types and it's not my fave.  The other two were both quite firm and solid, like butternut squash.  This one reminds me of how carving pumpkins look like inside.  Seems like I'd rather smash it and hide it in a dish than let it be the centerpiece.

Red kuri:  I don't know anything about it other than it sounds like "curry" and that's okay in my book.  It looks like a big redorange Christmas ornament.  I think the guy said it's really hollow inside and the meat's all around the edge.  But it sounds like another solid type and I'm looking forward to getting it open.

Orange-striped cushaw squash:  This one is my favorite just for looks.  I forgot its name and looked it up just now and it looks like a winner.  Good for pies.

Carnival squash:  ???  It's so cute!  It's that size and look where it might not be an edible one, but the guy said they were good.  I don't know!  We'll find out.

We got another buttercup and a decorative yellow thing.  And of course there's the pie pumpkin I bought the first time around.  Geez what am I going to do with them all!

Oh, hahah well, I'm glad you asked.  I have a pumpkin to-do list up on the fridge.

• Ice cream
• Pumpkin soup
• Pumpkin roll cake
• Pumpkin cinnamon roll
• Chocolate-pumpkin cake
• pie

Ice cream and soup (and curry and ginger cookies), check.  Remember those roll cakes with the whipped cream filling I make?  How about a pumpkin cake with a maple cream filling?  Yes?  Yes.  And a chocolate cake with pumpkin in; I think it wouldn't taste so much like pumpkin but if it did then I did it on purpose.  Guys, quick, what else can I do?

 I'm sure I had other things to talk about than harvest vegetables... probably.

-Steph