Pumpkin Patch Farm in London - Plus Ice Cream and cut and cook your own pumpkin pie

 

Photo from Sharot family.

Great fun for adults and children at the Pumpkin Patch farm and ice cream shop in Barnet, North London.

Mock graves.

They have pumpkins in wheelbarrows, mock graves with legs sticking out, mock skeletons playing guitars.

And funny little orange hats for children and adults.

Their website lists their regular ice cream flavours which include bubblegum, lemon meringue, rum and raisin, What - no pumpkin flavour?

Lewis of London, Fold Farm, Galley Lane, London. EN5 4RA.

It is in Barnet, North West London.

If you cannot get there, or it is too heavy to carry home, Tesco supermarket delivers pumpkins

Pumpkin Products and food

What can you do with a pumpkin? Cut it out for a lantern.

Use the flesh to make drinks and foods. Pumpkin smoothie. Pumpkin soup. Pumpkin pancakes - alliterative! Pumpkin donut. Pumpkin pie - alliterative! Rice or soup can be served inside a pumpkin which is cut to form a bowl with a lift off lid.

Vegetarian options from the BBC include pumpkin risotto, pumpkin and potato, pumpkin with lentils, pumpkin biriani.

Pumpkin pie with ice cream from Wikipedia. 

The Halloween effects at the farm in Barnet are available the last two weeks of October until Hallowe'en (with the original apostrophe for evening) at the end of the month. However, you can enjoy the ice creams all year. See their website for updates.

Toastmasters clubs worldwide will be celebrating Halloween as their theme for this weekend, in 2022, Oct 21 (Friday) to Oct 23 Sunday, as well as Diwali (also called Deepawali); and Friday Oct 28th, Sat 29th, Sunday 30th and Monday 31st.. Whether or not you are a member of a toastmasters club, you are welcome at most of the public clubs.

Finally, to make a pumpkin hat, use a round orange bathing cap. If you do not want to spoil it by drawing on it or cutting it or sewing on byes and so on, stick or pin on a pumpkin face.

Useful Websites

https://www.lewisoflondon.co.uk/events/pumpkin-patch/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_pie

https://www.wikihow.com/Carve-a-Pumpkin

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/302470977

See my next post about the ghouls.

Thanksgiving American Theme Meetings: turkey, kugel and potluck

American flag, the stars and stripes.

Problem
All over the world people will be celebrating or discussing Thanksgiving in November. When is it and what is it? Who celebrates and who doesn't?

Answers
Who, Where, Why?
In London, UK, we regard it as an American event. As a child I was led to believe it had something to do with Americans giving thanks for landing safely in the USA on the journey by ship from the UK, and surviving a year.

Why Not?
In the UK we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. We have harvest festival in churches and schools.

When?
American Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November.

Where?
According to Wikipedia other similar events are held in other parts of America and the Caribbean, in Europe in German and in Asia in Japan.

Caps and Plurals
The festival is given a capital letter. Notice that is is a plural. On whats app I was sent a notice about thank giving, no caps and singular.

Thanksgiving and American Clothes
Now is a good time to look out your American items, hats, tee-shirts, towels, whatever.

Cowgirl Hats
I am not sure that a cowgirl or cowboy hat is suitable, as this is from Texas and the West. However, since Thanksgiving is celebrated all over America, why not.

In Singapore you can buy a cowgirl hat for under ten dollars in a shop in Clementi shopping mall by Clementi MRT.

Cowboy or cowgirl hat in SKP, Clementi.

Hat from SKP shop in Clementi shopping Mall by Clementi MRT station and bus exchange.

Any party shop should have something American.

I suggest you check out the history of Thanksgiving in case you are asked to speak about it, or give thanks to those who prepared the food.

Thanksgiving Food
Traditionally turkey - thanksgiving day is also known as Turkey Day. (In the UK we have turkey on Xmas Day. American who had turkey the previous month on Thanksgiving Day therefore tend to go for something different on Xmas Day.)

To go with the turkey, what? Mashed potato. (At Xmas Day in the UK we have roast potatoes.)

Turkey and vegetable?
Maybe Brussels sprouts. (Turkey and Brussels sprouts is what we would have in London, England, for Xmas Day.) Yes, capital for Brussels, and plural. The sprouts were originally sold from near Brussels, capital of Belgium.

Dessert
Pumpkin pie is the seasonal and traditional dessert. You can also have pumpkin soup.

Kugel, Lockshen Pudding and Noodles
I was intrigued to read about what Ashkenazi Jews in America eat for dessert on Thanksgiving Day. Kugel. Kugel is tradition at the weekend (Sabbath being Friday night and Saturday until dusk - which is earlier in winter.)

What is it? I think kugel, to judge by the pictures and recipes, is what Londoners call lokshen pudding. Noodle pudding. Made with rich, yellow egg noodles.

The London version has sultanas and lemon.  You can get it to take away or eat in from B & K salt beef far and restaurant in Edgware and Hatch End - see my previous posts.) Asians might understand what it is if you call it noodle pudding.

Alternative To Turkey?
Duck.

Drinks?
Cider. Sparkling wine. Beaujolais Nouveau -which has been launched in London, England, with a cross-Channel dash to be the first shop to sell it and the first restaurant to serve it, the previous week.

Potluck
How about a potluck celebration? Americans like potluck dinners where everybody brings something to eat.

Music and Preparation
A potluck supper moves some of the responsibility of the catering onto the guests. That leaves the hosts time to do the decor and music.

Decor
American flags. Photos of America. America the beautiful, from sea to shining sea: landmarks include:
Grand Canyon


You might also like to include Canada:
Niagara Falls

Add some famous American Presidents, personalities and film stars:
Look in Wikipedia for free of copyright pictures of
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Marilyn Monroe
Elvis Presley
Dolly Parton

Check the figures on banknotes.

American Patriotic Music
Print off the words:
America the Beautiful.

American Personal Favourites
Country Music:
Take me home, country roads .. by John Denver.
Elvis

After you have done this once for the USA and Thanksgiving, you will have a system to follow for your club or conference in another country or on another national day.
(Coming up this year and next: December: Christmas. Spring: Chinese New Year.)

Check if a member of your group has a birthday (in any group of thirty people you usually find one or two with birthdays on the day, or week, or month). You can order cakes, and ice cream cakes in the USA, UK and Singapore.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Pumpkins in Morrisons for Halloween

Pumpkins in Morrisons for Halloween. Everything in orange. You can get paper plates and serviettes and paper cups to match.

I love pumpkin pie. In America we would drive through the countryside and see signs everywhere offering pumpkins for sale at restaurants and supermarkets and farms.

In Singapore we used to enjoy pumpkin soup starters, and pumpkin pie dessert for lunch when members of the American Women's Association which met in the American Club for a seasonal lunch.

In Morrisons and other supermarkets you can buy costumes, hats and more.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Pumpkin Plain, Pumpkin Pie, Can I save it or will it die?

Pumpkin is a winter squash, orange on the outside, although cooked it can turn into a greeny yellow colour. Pumpkin pie, a deep dish pie, on Thanksgiving Day is an American tradition. I had a wonderful pumpkin pie at the American club in Singapore during Thanksgiving Day week.

Apparently the same applies in Canada, where the festival is called L'Action to Grace. The pumpkin is also popular in Europe. Italians turn the flesh into a savoury filling for ravioli. You can also roast the seeds for snacks and eat the flowers which are elegant decorations for the table or plate, rather like orchids.

Now orange pumpkins of all sizes are on sale in UK supermarkets for Halloween. Then pumpkins will come down in price. It will be a good time to buy. But how can should you store them and how long?

We were so pleased with home made pumpkin soup, which was a cheap meal and more, we plan on buy pumpkins to store. How long will a pumpkin last?

If you just leave your pumpkin on the kitchen work surface:
All winter, until Xmas, if you are lucky until Easter. If it goes bad, goes soft and starts smelling evil and leaking, too late, you'll have to throw it out.

If you can keep it in a cool dark place, it'll last a few months.

Cut open, you can freeze it and again it lasts a few months.

Cooked and made into pumpkin pie and the whole thing or leftovers frozen, again a few months.

There's a good chart on this site:
http://www.eatbydate.com/fruits/fresh/how-long-does-pumpkin-last/