One latent talent (I never realized those two words - latent and talent - were, like, the same word. Look at ‘em. Weird.) of Captain Sarcastic is his pumpkin carving skills. This guy has lots of talents–he can juggle, do origami, knit, fix computers, take professional photographs, make balloon animals, fix a car, float sheet rock, paint a room, weld (as in make artistic lamps), bathe a baby–get the idea? And in his bag of tricks is also pumpkin carving. Since we have known each other, he’s carved a pumpkin every Halloween.

His carving all started with a simple ghost. Then there was a cat, a witch, and several we do not now remember. Last year was the Green Goblin. That was a pretty high level of difficulty. But this year, he pulled out all the stops. The Williams-Sonoma pumpkin carving kit no longer had enough tools. We needed to go the hardware store to prepare to carve our pumpkin this year. He bought various and sundry Dremel rotary tool bits. And he did his first etched pumpkin:

Didn’t Scary Donald Duck come out great?

Did I mention how much I love Halloween? Pumpkin carving is one of the reasons. In addition to an amazing time at the pumpkin patch,

and an amazing carved (and etched) pumpkin, there are the pumpkin seeds.  To quote The Wizard of Oz’s Scarecrow (I mean, it IS Halloween, right?): Oh, joy, rapture! Every year I scrounge for all the seeds I can lay my hands on. I ask around at work and bum them off my friends. Because then I roast them and am in heaven. Here’s my recipe:

Get the seeds out of as many pumpkins as is humanly possible and clear them of the pumpkin goo. DO NOT WASH THEM. Pat them dry with paper towels and then spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet (if you are like me, you may need to do this in batches or get several cookie sheets). Leave them to dry at room temperature for at least one night. Drying for two nights is better.

When you are ready to roast them, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then coat the seeds with a THIN coat of oil–we use Hot & Spicy flavored oil. Then sprinkle seasonings on them–we use Tony Chachere’s. Here’s the beauty of pumpkin seeds–the seasoning possibilities are endless–there are so many salty/spicy things you could add, or you could go the sweet route and use cinnamon or nutmeg or gosh darn any spice you are in the mood for.

Once you make the decision on salty or sweet and have seasoned them up, pop them in the oven and stick around. It won’t take long–ten minutes or so. Shake the cookie sheet  occasionally to keep the seeds from sticking.  Before long, you’ll hear them start to pop a little and you’ll see them get golden. When that happens, take them out of the oven and remove them from the cookie sheet to stop them from continuing to roast. Store them in an airtight container. In our house, that isn’t too important since we seem to eat them all within a day or so. Enjoy!