It’s Monday, glorious Monday which means the weekend is over. Boooo!!! But the good news is that we found pumpkins to carve! Finding jack-o’-lantern-style pumpkins to carve in France often proves difficult. There are all types of gourd-like pumpkins and squash varieties, but good ol’ orange pumpkins to carve? Eh, not so much. After an hour of striking out at garden centers, we decided to head to a nearby harvest festival where these beauties were for sale (dammit, don’t ask how much the trio above cost. How much are pumpkins these days in the U.S.?? Just curious). We spent the afternoon carving them into creations that will definitely confuse the neighbors (no one really carves pumpkins here). So score for that.
And in other news, check out 5 foods in French grocery stores that’ll make you say WTF. With pics of it all after the jump…
GO!
Finding a pumpkin in France
So first, I’ve told you all about French grocery stores here before, but you can check out my quick post on Buzzfeed about the 5 French Grocery Store Items That’ll Make You Say WTF here.
Pumpkin carving in France
Halloween is catching on little by little in France. Tom told me that when he was a kid, no one really knew what Halloween was (aside from American movies) and as time has passed, France has gotten to know what Halloween is all about. It’s not traditional like Christmas or Easter and is more of a marketing ploy here — although, let me say that harvest festivals and autumn celebrations with wine and gourds and fun are pretty popular. Back to Halloween though. Now you do see some kids in costumes, decorations and about two trick-or-treaters. In general, the French go for scary costumes.
So moving on to our pumpkin carving. We picked out our three pumpkins at a little store section at the harvest festival where they had pumpkin varieties I had never seen before. From little gourds to snakey looking squash to red and even yellow pumpkins, they were really pretty. But I didn’t get distracted by all that because we were on a mission to find pumpkins to carve. And we found ’em alright. With lighter wallets and a 8-year-old helper who pulled them to our car in his wagon (that I tipped), we were off…
Now it’s carving time. My mom sent me a pumpkin carving kit last year and we supplemented the plastic tools with a big metal spoon, a grapefruit knife and a few nails. How’d we do? Pas mal, I’d say. I’ll let you guess who did what. Don’t ask how long Walter White took.
And a festive bookshelf to wrap it up. P.S. If you’ve read Gone Girl you’ll still enjoy the movie. I did!
When we were in Brittany in September, our neighbour showed us around his massive garden and veggie plot. He was growing pumpkins and I think they have a pumpkin festival. His wife showed me her pumpkin which was still growing. It had her name carved in it which I gathered is something they do when the pumpkin in small and then it grows with the name. Great post and I love the carvings. X
I think growing pumpkins is the way to go. I sprinkled some seeds in the yard so maybe next year I’ll have a few little ones. We’ll see. Very cool idea about the name. And thank you!
Just an FYI! Saw medium sized pumpkins for $3.88@ Walmart yesterday. Beautiful job on Walter! Others are more trad halloween. I like them all.
What a steal! They’re like 3.88/kg here. And Tom says thanks 😉
the picture are very nice
Wow that Walter White is something! But I like them all. My favorite Halloween was when my kids were around 8 or 9 and one of the houses i in our neighborhood really got into it and made their house scary (and the whole family acted out scary roles – wandering around the yard like a Zombie with an “axe” etc). Just scary enough for my kids to be a little scared but not so scary to completely freak them out. They loved it!
We grow our own pumpkins but they are to eat! Having lived in Africa most of my life Halloween was unheard of. When we moved to the UK in 2002 we were amazed at the Halloween celebrations. In 2005 when we bought in France we were delighted to find how peaceful it was again here. We don’t understand Halloween other than it is expensive for parents buying clothes for children for one day a year.
The pumpkins are beautiful but I would still prefer to eat them, and as a vegetable, not as a sweet which it seems most Americans do.
Good job that everyone does not have the same ideas or taste in life or it would become very boring 🙂
Have a good weekend Diane
I never used an actual pumpkin to make pumpkin anything until I moved to France! Interesting how different cultures use the same things for different purposes. Although carving pumpkin varieties are different from the ones you eat, I think both have their place in my house. For me, carving pumpkins and decorating for Halloween is about feeling closer to my American culture from a distance. It makes me happy to celebrate and do something special. But I’m with you about expensive costumes. Luckily I don’t have kids so no issue there! Glad you liked my pumpkins. Bon week-end aussi !
We sadly didn’t find any pumpkins that were good enough to carve this year 🙁 Yours look great!