We were lucky enough to have my cousin Courtney and her friend Jackie come to visit us this weekend from their semester abroad in Leuven, Belgium. It was lovely to have family here – we had a very relaxed but fun time.
Saturday morning the girls slept in – Liam of course didn’t, so I was up early and decided to get started on processing the four pumpkins I’d stocked up on, foreseeing a need for pumpkin pie combined with a lack of canned pumpkin and a very short availability of pumpkins here. Hallowe’en is not a Dutch tradition, but some enterprising marketers seem to be trying to introduce it. The pumpkins came with a template for a jack-o-lantern face
And instructions
Below the instructions is a recipe for a pumpkin pie – didn’t seem like a particularly good recipe to me, not enough spices, but that seems typical for the Dutch 🙂
After the girls got up, they got to meet Liam properly – he’d just been going to bed as they got here. Courtney started taking pictures as I started making the first batch of pumpkin seeds and baking the first pumpkin victim (notice the others in the background in some pics, watching and anticipating their own demise):
Courtney’s photo
Courtney’s photo
Courtney’s photo
Courtney’s photo
Courtney’s photo
Then into the market on a gloomy fall day. Liam is less than thrilled.
Courtney’s photo
Our first mission was to sample stroopwaffels from the stall in the market with particularly tasty ones – unbelievably Courtney had managed to not have one of these delectable treats until now.
Courtney’s photo
The girls found a boot shop in the market and got some good deals on boots. Ivo ate a herring Dutch style.
Courtney’s photo
Then to a cafe to feed Liam and have coffee (or warm beverage of choice).
Courtney’s photo
Liam playing his favourite game: Where’s Liam?
Courtney’s photo
Courtney’s photo
Courtney’s photo
After the restaurant we did a bit of shopping – by the time we were done it was cold, dark and raining. We showed them the church, of course, but it was so icky that we wanted nothing but to get back home. Back home again, Liam gets a hug
Courtney’s photo
And terrorizes Jackie.
The girls make it a mission to make the rest of the pumpkin seeds and clean out the other three pumpkins, which go in the oven.
Before a dinner of pannenkoeken – Jackie’s first experience with the Dutch version
Courtney’s photo
Liam the next morning, before he ripped that offending wall paper right off.
Courtney’s photo
And of course Mackenzie had been lying peacefully in the ExerSaucer, deciding to get up just as the shutter clicked.
That was sort of how the morning went – fairly lazy – well, Courtney and Jackie went for a run, but other than that, just hanging out and checking stuff online. And I pureed all the pumpkins. This is when I thought I was done.
Turns out that was just 3/4 of it. After freezer bagging this I turned around and found the fourth pumpkin still on the stove. All in all, about 22 cups of pumpkin puree. I think I’ll have enough for a while.
In the afternoon, Courtney and Jackie went on their way. As I said, it was great having them here and hopefully we’ll see them again before they head off home for Christmas.