Behold, the results of the pumpkin carving contest! The pumpkin more or less in the center is my team's entry (the "team" being Corby and myself). I imagine that none of my blog's readers know Corby; suffice it to say that he's a fellow from my ward with a very dry sense of humor.In the end, about half the pumpkins got labeled as "pretty dang good" and the rest wallowed in the mediocrity of "not quite as dang good." That was about as far as the judging went, as no one had bothered to actually organize any judging in the first place.
The pumpkin now occupies a seat of honor on my balcony, displaying its mischievious grin to passers-by. I have got a bunch of candles and I could probably make it glow, but have not yet bothered to do so. I might do that for Hallowe'en, just to get in the spirit of things.
Cavan finally managed to call me from Russia (woohoo!). He tried a few times but kept catching me away from the phone. He calls me from some kind of weird phone card number, which means I can't call him back if I miss the call, and he's disinclined to try twice. I gave the number its own magic ringtone, and that probably helps a little. Anyway, it was fun, and we talked about stuff. I mostly don't remember what, but it probably involved Russia, and it definitely involved Russian ravioli, which Cav was having for dinner that night.
Thinking of food (and back on my side of the pond), I have yet to find a garden vegetable soup that doesn't taste like sour tomatoes. It's possible that people just don't use ripe enough tomatoes, but overall I find this a great pity. I'm often on the lookout for healthier food, and garden vegetable soup ought to be a good candidate, but it's always sour. Maybe you can make a good soup without any tomato? Tomato is always what you use to give the broth flavor, though, so you'd have to find a different good vegetable. Beans work pretty well, but add a lot of calories. Maybe a variant on onion soup would work?
