Early Advent

Advent Cooking, December 1st: I was baking pumpkin and, given that Nathaniel was down for an evening nap and Katherine was in a good mood, I thought I’d try roasting pumpkin seeds.  Recipes looked easy enough.  Everything went smoothly, Katherine dug right in, and then I tried one.  They tasted like plastic!  Sydney came in eventually, peeled off the outer part of one for me, and then I could see why people would eat the things.  But it seems that people either (crazily) like the silly things with their hulls on or buy their hulled seeds from the store/grow pumpkin varieties that come with hull-free seeds.  So much for making the most of the seeds that happen to come in my pumpkin.  Okay, scrap that idea.  On to other cooking adventures.  Today, December 2nd, I’m making pumpkin scones again, this time with more pecans, cranberries instead of raisins, more applesauce than butter, and mostly whole-wheat flour.  I think it’s going to be an improvement on yesterday’s experiment!

Katherine seems delighted with her growing nativity crowd, now up to shepherds and one sheep.  I have a gorgeous pop-up book that tells the Christmas story, but I needed some help slimming things down to things that would be good for her age.  Enter The Christmas Book, by Dick Bruna. It’s very simply written, helps her focus on the baby being born, and works nicely with the nativity set, which is drawn from the illustrations in the book.  We’re having fun with it, and she’s asked for repeat readings already, a good sign.

Erin