I’m worried that the postponed yardsale will become the canceled yardsale if it’s still raining tomorrow. I’m hoping to make at least $50 so I can give it to my mother to help remodel the bathroom (before the toilet falls through the floor). They say centipedes and mice are good indicators of problems, but I think the mushy floor in and around the sink and toilet are a pretty good sign that our bathroom is attempting to become an outhouse.

Yesterday, my first day back from vacation, I told my boss I could no longer do my job as supervisor… that I could not handle the sales aspect of the job any longer. I told her the stress was simply too much, especially with the seasonal train wreck that is the holiday season on its way to put a whole new layer of stress on the mess that is my job. And having been in a car accident last year due to the insanity of the holiday mall traffic, I do not want to go anywhere near the mall as we head into December. The traffic around the malls is already sticky and it’s only mid-October.

Then, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I offered to continue to do my job, part time. Essentially, I offered to come in only in the early morning before the store opened, working up until the store opened and no more than that and allowing me to leave work in a direction which is not traffic heavy at that time of the AM. This was my ultimatum, that I do this or in two weeks’ time leave entirely. My boss seemed eager to accept the deal. This would save her payroll and effort (she’d have to do my job otherwise), and it’s no secret that I am at the end of my rope in so far as dealing with the public and the corporate BS is concerned. However, she has to get the okay from her bosses and therein lies the possibility that at the end of two weeks I will no longer be working at Borders.

To which I say… Oh Well.

To be honest, while it would make my life easier and allow me to go longer without finding a “real job” to replace this one if/when I lose it, I would be just as happy to leave Borders and never darken its doors again. To the extent that I am disillusioned with all large corporate stores, I question whether I would even sell anything I wrote in a Borders or Barnes and Noble. But that would just be cutting my own throat. I’d probably sell my books there; I just would never do a signing in one.

This move is for the most part to deal with the inexorable stress that’s been plaguing me since Borders decided to restructure its sales plan and lay a whole heap of extra duties on the plates of its employees, while at the same time robbing us of various benefits including the possibility of raises this year and any matching on our 401Ks. This is not just my perception of things… like many stores we have CSI coupons which are randomly distributed to our customers. One of our customers specifically requested in the comment portion of her questionnaire that Borders employees “not be forced to do anything beneath their dignity.”

So many things about the job is currently beneath our dignity. Do I care if “they” find this blog and use it as reason not to continue to employ me in the capacity I have offered? No… not really. As I said, leaving the job would be a relief. I only offered to work mornings as a courtesy. My opinion of the company has not changed. Besides, I’m not a morning person. I am a night owl. I’d rather not get up at 5AM five days a week if I can help it. The money would be helpful; the stress, not so much.

I swear I was not even thinking of November being Nanowrimo month when I made this decision, but since it is, I signed up. One of the reasons I’m giving up my position at work (besides the stress) is so that I can write more. So Nanowrimo is a logical step, right? I need to practice typing Nanowrimo. It does not fall trippingly from the fingers. Anyone else doing Nanowrimo this year? We can be writing buddies if you like.

I don’t use puree from a can, so first I had to find a big pumpkin. I got this long neck pumpkin at a farm. To be honest, it looked like a squash of some type, but the farm swore it was a pumpkin. It’s a better pumpkin to buy if you intend to make pie because the neck contains no stringy guts to cut out. The round bit at the bottom does have some guts and seeds, but not nearly so much as a regular pumpkin, so if you like the seeds as well, a regular pumpkin might be better. I did get a few seeds, but only as much as would fill a small bowl.

Pumpkin puree is a gooey, messy business. Cleaning a pumpkin in itself is pretty messy, making puree just prolongs that. First wash the pumpkin, then take a big psycho knife and cut it into wedges. The thicker the wedge, the longer it will take to cook. So if you’re making puree with the long neck pumpkin, the neck parts are going to take a little bit longer to cook through than any wedges from the “bulb.” Arrange the wedges on several baking trays. You can line them with wax paper first. Bake at 325 F for the first hour, then for approximately 2 more hours at 300 F. I say approximately because depending upon the thickness of the pieces, it may be closer to one hour. So check after that first hour at 300 F to see if the thinner pieces are done. I also flip the pieces when I turn the temperature down, though that’s not really necessary.

When the pieces are cooked through, set them aside to cool for a bit, otherwise you will burn your fingers trying to detach skin from flesh. Of course, if it’s really cold, you don’t have to wait too long to warm your fingers on warm pumpkin wedges. You may want to use a knife to get rid of any harder bits that have been overcooked by their time in the oven, but I find just squeezing the flesh under the skin is sufficient to pull it away from the pumpkin flesh, which is another good reason to let the pumpkin cool before starting. Once you have the cleaned pumpkin flesh set aside, put it in a food processor or blender. Depending upon how much pumpkin you’ve gotten at this point, you may want to do this in batches. One cup of puree will be sufficient for one pie according to my recipe, but you may have your own way of doing things. When I finished cooking and cleaning my long neck pumpkin, I had approximately five cups of pureed pumpkin flesh. I made four pies, and I may still make a pumpkin roll.

This recipe originally instructed the cook to separate the dough into two balls and refrigerate. I like a thin crust, and I have a zipper-bag designed to help you roll out the dough without having it stick and rip, so I can roll out my dough super thin. It’s up to you how thin you make the crust, but I can get four crusts out of this recipe, rather than the two it suggests.

Sift the flour, salt and allspice into a bowl. Blend shortening into mixture with a fork until it resembles course oatmeal. Gradually add the water until the dough can be formed into a ball. You may not have to use all 5 tbsp of water. Divide the dough ball into half, thirds, or quarters, depending upon your preference to thickness and skill at rolling. Wrap balls in wax paper and put in fridge at least fifteen minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Put cranberries and hazelnuts into food processor or blender in batches and process until cranberries are very small. Remove to bowl and mix in brown sugar and vanilla. Set aside. This is sufficient to make two or three pies depending upon you love of cranberries as opposed to your love of pumpkin pie.

This recipe is sufficient to make one pie, so double, treble, or quadruple as necessary. In large bowl, beat eggs lightly. Stir in puree, sugar, salt, and other seasonings. Feel free to change the measurements of the various seasonings to taste. I have a preference for ginger and cinnamon, so I doubled the amount of cinnamon as compared to the other seasonings, and I put in a heaping 1/4 tsp of ginger as opposed to a level 1/4 of the other spices. Mix well, then slowly add the evaporated milk, stirring until combined. Despite your best efforts at making puree, at this point you may find a few fibrous clumps. Just pull them out and throw them away. Set filling aside.

Roll out pie dough and line pie plate. Spread your cranberry mixture over the bottom of the pie and pour the filling over all.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 F. Reduce to 350 F and bake an additional 40-50 minutes. I generally check with a toothpick after 30 minutes though. I live at a higher altitude and depending upon the weather, the pie may bake faster or slower. Cool on a wire rack. Just so you know, the pie will be indistinguishable from a regular pumpkin pie, so if you are making both regular and cranberry-hazelnut, you may want to indicate that somehow… you could save some dough and cut it into various shapes to put on top before baking.

Line a 8-9 inch pan with wax paper. Melt the semisweet chocolate over low heat with a little over half the sweetened condensed milk. I use a poor man’s double boiler, that is, a smaller pot inside a larger one with about an inch of water in the bottom to ensure the chocolate doesn’t burn. Add the vanilla.

Take a little less than half the fudge and spread a layer on the bottom of your wax lined pan. It’s actually easier to do this with your hands, so make sure they are CLEAN. Then just smoosh the chocolate flat, fold the wax paper over to cover it and refrigerate for about 10 minutes. Believe me, you want more fudge left for the final step than less. It’s just easier that way. Cover the remaining chocolate on the stove with a lid and leave on the lowest setting. This won’t stop it from drying out around the edges or burning, so remember to stir it occasionally.

Make another poor man’s double boiler and melt the white chocolate with the remaining milk. Stir in the peppermint and food coloring. I put in about five drops of coloring, but you don’t need to add any if you prefer. Remove the fudge from the fridge and spread the new layer over the cooled one. Fold the wax paper over the new layer and put back in the fridge for at least another 10 minutes. I say at least, but it’s been my experience that it takes longer than that for the new layer to cool sufficiently to add the final layer, which is why it’s important to keep that last layer of fudge warm in the pot. Just remember to stir it every few minutes to keep it evenly warm and prevent the vanilla from cooking back out.

When the two layers are sufficiently cooled, spread the finally layer over the first two as best you can. It will not be easy to do it evenly and you may have to accept a bit of the flavored layer peeking out in places. Fold the wax paper back over the fudge and refrigerate for at least two hours. Turn the fudge onto a cutting board and peel off the wax paper before cutting.

To make raspberry fudge, just use raspberry flavor and red food coloring instead of the peppermint and green coloring. Again, you don’t have to use food coloring at all if you don’t want to, though it does make it easier to tell one from the other if you make both. If you use the really good stuff though, your nose should be able to tell you which is which.

I just don’t know.

I’d also like to create a line of horror themed candies. I want to create something called Soylent Green for the WTF factor. heh Maybe Soylent green could be green “white” chocolate bars with a dark chocolate fudge filling. Raspberry syrup filled dark chocolates could be BloodDrops. Crunchy bits of scale shaped toffee in white chocolate with dark chocolate bits could be Scales from the Black Lagoon. Brown (cinnamon flavored) cotton candy could be Hair of the Wolf (that bit you). Serpent’s Teeth could be marshmallow shaped like teeth and filled with green syrup venom. Hard candy bones in fun-dip dust could be the Mummy’s Bones. Translucent multicolored hard candies with liquid centers could be Zombie Eyes. Something akin to Cadbury cream eggs, but with a green/blue/black colored goo in the middle could be Alien Eggs.

I think the candy would be more prone to copyright infringement than the game, but since I don’t even know how I’d go about developing either, it’s kind of moot. Any ideas?

Bring on the frost.