Week Six: Doctor Who and Pumpkin Pie

Week 6

11/24-11/30

Doctor Who 50^th Anniversary Show

Sunday (November 24^th) was the 50^th Anniversary of Doctor Who. To celebrate, several cinemas were playing it across Sydney. I went with the Townsend brother’s to a showing in Bondi Junction. Braedon picked me up around 2:30 and drove us there, where Kieran and Daniel were already waiting. (We were able to get a parking spot right next to Kieran. Which I wasn’t that impressed with at first, but then Braedon and I figured out that there are roughly 5,000 spots in the parking garage so it really is amazing that we would find an open spot right next to Kieran. Kieran, even after presented with the odds, was not very impressed). Daniel works at a restaurant there and was getting off early so he could go to the showing. Braedon and I ate lunch at Dan’s restaurant (Burgers and chips), which was very nice. Then we went to Woolworths to buy some movie snacks instead of paying 3000 times more for snacks at the theater. The boys got Maltesers(which are basically whoppers in The States) which I have never been a huge fan of. The boys thought that that was ludicrous that I would not like Maltesers, but I slightly redeemed myself by getting Pods, which are delicious and have no real counter part in America for me to compare it too.  Anyway, the episode was great! And afterward we went back to the cars, and I regretted the fact that we parked next to Kieran when Daniel threw a candle at me from Kieran’s car to Braedon’s through the open windows. Okay it wasn’t really at me, he just wanted to see if he could make it. But at the time it felt like a hate crime. Then we went back to their house where we watched a nature documentary. Then Braedon took me to his friend’s house who was having a bit of a going away/end of Uni party.

Pie

This week is Thanksgiving in The U.S. I wasn’t planning on doing much, on account that it is an American holiday and I am not in America. But Danielle and Mark insisted that we had to do something. They said we can get a turkey roll (which is turkey breast meat and stuffing), and I offered to make Pumpkin Pie. Pumpkin is not a sweet flavor here. When you mention it as a dessert, you can see peoples faces pinch as they try to imagine what it might taste like, ultimately deciding that it would be disgusting. But seeing as how it is an American tradition, I wanted to show them what it was about. Now, I had never made pumpkin pie before. And I really wanted them to like it. I wanted to prove that we are not crazy for taking this squash and turning it into a dessert. I felt like I had the weight of the American people on my shoulders. All 3.13 million of them saying “Come on, Rach! We need this!” I was going to be the pumpkin pie ambassador.  If they hated it, I would be that weird American girl that made them eat a disgusting pie. I can’t have that be my lasting mark! So yeah, there was a lot riding on this.

And because it is not a sweet flavor here, they don’t have canned pumpkin. So I was going to have to take a whole pumpkin, and somehow turn it into a delicious pie. I found a recipe, went out and bought all of the ingredients and got crackin’. Here is the whole pumpkin:

       Puree time:

 Roasting and carving it out:                                  















Ingredients mixed in:

 Final Product:

 

It got a little burned on top, because, you know, Celsius. It kind of looks like a heart though. So let's just say I planned that. I made an apple pie as well. The apple was my contingency pie, incase the pumpkin was a huge fail. 

Here was my Apple pie:

Thanksgiving

On actual Thanksgiving Day, I was home with Harry. Danielle came home early and took the boys to the shops. They came back with Red, White, and Blue balloons and some Chardonnay from San Francisco. They wanted it to feel as close to home as possible. We had a lovely dinner of Turkey roll, roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, green beans and peas. After we had all eaten our fill, it was time for pie. Judgment time was upon us. I served everyone a slice of pumpkin with some whipped cream, and a slice of apple with vanilla ice cream. Both pies turned out wonderfully! Seriously. Not to toot my own horn, but “toot-toot”! The family really liked it. There were pleasantly surprised by the pumpkin and said that they would have it again, which is good considering there are heaps of leftovers. Now I can breathe knowing that I did my country proud.

 

Mini Pumpkin Pies out of Leftover crust/puree