lots o' pumpkins

I spent the week recruiting in Pennsylvania and was able to spend time with my family. My mom and I enjoyed a great lunch at Shake Shack and then dinner at Lolita in Philadelphia. Lolita is a wonderful BYO tequila restaurant, where they mix margaritas for you table-side. A week of visiting beautiful undergrad campuses, enjoying time with family and sampling delicious food was a great welcome to fall. On Friday night, I had dinner with Meredith and Jen. We had so much fun catching up at Houlihan's. Nothing beats dinner with the girls.

Gourds at the farmer's market.

Kathleen and Billy came up to Hershey for the weekend, and we carved pumpkins on Saturday night. Well, in truth, I served as the bar wench of sorts and supervised the carving (as I sipped a Pomegranate martini). I also was on hors d'oeuvre duty and we had assorted cheese, Wegman's crab dip and bruschetta.

Cheese board with Yancey's Sharp cheddar, Drunken Goat cheese and a country pate.

Kathleen's, Dad's, Billy's & Mom's pumpkin creations.

After years of research, Mom nailed this pumpkin!

Roasted pumpkin seeds - great over a salad or for a crunchy snack.
Preheat oven to 350°F.

 Separate the seeds from the pulp and place seeds in a bowl. Don't worry if there's a little pulp left on the seeds when you roast them—it only adds flavor. Just remove the biggest pieces so that the seeds are easy to toss.

 In a bowl, toss the seeds with about 2 table spoons EVOO, coating thoroughly. Add a generous amount of salt and some seasonings. For these spicy seeds, I used S&P and crushed red pepper. Spread seeds in one even layer across a Pammed baking sheet. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the seeds are golden brown. Stir the seeds every so often while they're baking, so that they toast evenly.Back to Nashville tonight and then off to Minneapolis on Tuesday. I am ready to have a weekend at home with my husband - soon hopefully!