fall – Page 4 – Travelcraft Journal

Travel writer Sherry Ott posted a list of “Most Unusual Destinations for Viewing Fall Colors” and suggests “While everyone heads east, why not just head North” to Minnesota or Alaska or across the ocean to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain or trek the mountains of Nepal.

For travel a little later in the season, you could look another direction: Southwest. Season-seekers in Phoenix are used to heading to Flagstaff and Sedona to get their fall color fix, but Northern Arizona isn’t on the radar for most people.

In Sedona, the fall color is set against the backdrop of its gorgeous red rocks. The peak color is on the later side. A lot of times we’re in Sedona over Columbus Day weekend, when the leaves are just beginning to turn.

Do the leaves change where you live? Have you ever travelled for fall color?

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As a kid, I didn’t understand where pumpkin pie came from. My best guess was that it was somehow made from the goopy insides we scooped out while getting ready to carve jack-o’-lanterns. I thought of the outside as kind of a hard shell and was surprised to learn that (minus the peel) is actually the edible part. It seemed like magic, and I knew I had to try it one day.

Fast forward to November a couple years ago when I finally gave it a try.

I started with the wrong kind of pumpkin. At least that’s what people kept telling me. This giant orange carving pumpkin came with our CSA box. Even though I knew it wasn’t a pie pumpkin, that’s what I had, and I wanted to make it work. A little internet research made me think it could be done, so I gave it a shot.

I scooped seeds, cut the squash into pieces, and baked it. Phillip helped me remove the peel.

One of the downsides of a carving/non-pie pumpkin is they tend to be more watery. The fix is letting the baked pumpkin set for awhile and then pouring off the excess water. Easy enough. I did this a couple times, then immersion blended it into a puree.

The taste seemed a little bland (another one of the potential side effects of carving pumpkins) until I added my homemade spice blend. All of the sudden it tasted like pumpkin pie.

I had decided not to do the crust from scratch – another project for another time. I made 3 pies and later pumpkin bread. I froze the extra pumpkin puree in large freezer bags.

The pies got rave reviews.

The process took way longer than I expected. Still, I enjoyed the magic of transforming a pumpkin into a pie. And watching the naysayers eat their words.

Tag: fall

Fall in Sedona

Carving pumpkin into pie