Apple Pies and Jack-o-lanterns

Once again the house smells of fall. After school yesterday, my daughter and went out and picked a pumpkin. We also got a half a bushel of tart apples. After dinner, we carved out the pumpkin (she’s big enough to scoop the seeds out and to dig out the sides). The pumpkin we’ll save for soup (my favorite, she doesn’t care for it) or pumpkin cookies (her favorite). We cooked the pumpkin down and put it in freezer bags and baked the seeds. We also prepared dough for piecrust (it’s easier to let the dough rest overnight). Today, after her soccer game (her team won 2-0), we got busy. Peeling the apples were easier as a friend lent me a peeler that also cored and sliced the apple. We cooked the apples for the pie (adding raisins that I’d soaked over night in brandy--I prefer to use Apple Jack, but ain't been able to find any up here). Then I prepared the dough, rolling out each pie crust (I’m a bit particular, so I only use pottery pie pans—most of which came from the Jugtown/Seagrove area of North Carolina). We put the apples on the crust, added a topping of butter, flour and walnuts, and then a lattice topping (this is just like weaving, she said). Right now, there are four pies baking in the over and the rest of the apples are cooking into sauce. The house smells like a home.