Pumpkin Madness: Halloween 2008

My friends might say that I am the Queen of Throwing Parties. And, well...it's true. There is always Easter Sunday Brunch at my place for all my friends who are in town (this is how I came to be hooked on my friend Claire's chocolate croissant bread pudding). The Wine & Cheese affair might be my favorite gathering because I love wine and I certainly love cheese. A house warming party here. A beer and cheese party there. Lots of dinner parties and Supper Clubs in between. And then there's everyone's favorite: the Annual Holiday Dinner and Beer Tasting. This year, for the very first time, I decided to host a Pumpkin Carving party full of pumpkin beer, pumpkin related foodie goodies and, of course, lots of pumpkin carving. I thought it would be fun if everyone just spread out some newspapers, set up a station and got to work in an effort to win the prize for everyone's favorite pumpkin.

My friend Lindsay brought some pumpkin seed cheese and brie & crackers with pumpkin butter. And I made pumpkin seed pesto, but to be honest, it was a little disappointing so I didn't include the recipe.

Chris the Chef made this amazing, smooth and creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Crème Fraîche (accompanied by turkey meatballs):

I made a Pumpkin, Gruyere & Thyme Gratin:

And Penny made Soft Pumpkin Cookies with a Maple Glaze:

We all had a really good time, didn't we! And, as it turns out, my friends can carve up pumpkins like it's their day job!

Smarty Pants (by Chris and Jenn):

Batty (by Heather):

Joe the Plumber (by Lindsay):

Si Se Puede (by Patrick):

What Tom and I Feel For Each Other (by Penny):

A Flapper Stripper named Candy (by Jason and yours truly):

And Matt & Emily carved an amazing spider in its web, but, sadly, the picture didn't come out for some reason...Sorry!

We had so much fun! I think carving pumpkins has the same effect on people as mass quantities of free popcorn-instant happiness and fun. I once learned how to operate one of those fancy popcorn machines and handed out free popcorn to people at a party and you wouldn't believe the amount of instant smiles that produced...

Happy Halloween! :)