I spot a big wild pumpkin that is orange. :O

This is my biggest pumpkin. It is also orange! I smell progress :)

I spot a wild pumpkin. :O

It's been so long since I've put up pictures! I apologize to all you dedicated readers who are just sitting on the edge of your seats, biting your nails in anxiety, and grasping the monitor looking for some sign of PeanutPicklePumpkin's pictures of its pumpkin process!

Note: The dates on these pictures are incorrect. I did not plant these in 2008. :P

Busy summer...!

This summer has been amazing! I went to the Monterey Jazz Festival Summer camp in June, right after I started my blog, which explains why I haven't really been keeping it up. I learned a bunch about vocal jazz and jazz music in general. I performed solo, with a combo, and with a jazz vocal ensemble. It was an awesome experience and I hope to go next year and be in the Honor vocal jazz ensemble.

My family runs a youth theatre company called San Jose Youth Shakespeare, and we just finished our summer production of Hamlet!! It was awesome! This is the 15th play we have done, and I have been a part of all of them. I've been busy with 4-H as well. 4-H camp was in July, which I was on staff for. My job was to lead campfire songs and skits every night. It was lots of fun but pretty stressful. I am now a Santa Clara County All Star for the '11-'12 year of 4-H! I'm really excited for this year! I've also been learning to drive, and I'm hoping to have my license in October.

I've been watering my pumpkins every day! There are two visible ones about the size of a Cantaloupe. One of them has pretty much stopped growing, but I have faith in the other! There are many little ones on the sprawling vines across my lawn as well. I hope that I will get one jack o' lantern worthy pumpkin out of this! Pictures will be up soon. :)

Pumpkin update pic #3

I planted my pumpkins in the ground today! Hopefully the buggies don't get to them :O

Banana Fritter recipe!

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp butter, melted
1 egg, separated
1/2 cup, all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
6 medium-size firm bananas
3 Tbsp sugar
Ice cream, if desired


1. Pour 2 inches oil into medium saucepan; heat to 375˚F.

2. Beat milk, melted butter and egg yolk with whisk in medium mixing bowl until blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt to milk mixture; whisk until smooth.

3. Beat egg white in small mixer bowl at high speed until soft peaks form; fold gently but thoroughly into flour mixture.

4. Peel bananas; cut each crosswise into 3 equal pieces. Coat banana pieces completely with batter; fry, a few at a time, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper toweling. While still hot, toss fritters in sugar to coat completely; serve immediately, topped with ice cream.

from "Dessert Cooking Class Cookbook" by the Editors of Consumer Guide.

Banana Fritters :)

I made Banana Fritters tonight! They turned out lovely, and are very easy to make. The recipe is from "Dessert Cooking Class Cookbook" by the editors of Consumer Guide. Deep frying them in oil was my favorite part. I love that sizzling sound! I had leftover batter, so I tried deep frying marshmallows...it didn't turn out too great but I tasted a fragment of one and it was yummy! :D

The best cheeseburger in the world.

Yesterday I had the best cheeseburger in the world. My sisters boyfriend and I thought this up as the three of us were going to the grocery store. This is how it goes:

Ingredients:
2 buns
ground beef
BBQ sauce
bacon
BBQ potato chips
cheese

Actions:
Grill a 1/3 lb patty, slap a square of cheese on the patty and grill until it melts. Cook bacon in your favorite skillet on stovetop until crispy. Toast buns, dump some BBQ sauce on each bun, plop the cheesy burger on one bun, add 2 or 3 slices of bacon on top, and on top of that lay on the BBQ chips. Stick the other bun on and BAM BEST CHEESEBURGER EVER.

Pumpkin update pic #2...cotyledons!!

Pumpkin update pic #1

Pumpkins!?

So for the past 5 years, or maybe even longer, I have been saving the seeds from my Halloween Jack o' lanterns to grow new pumpkins for the following Halloween! You are supposed to plant pumpkins for Halloween around April or May; and every April or May, I forget. So I have this little paper starbucks cup with years and years worth of pumpkin seeds hiding away in my bedroom cupboard. Generations of seeds!!!! Anyway, this year, I remembered! So last week, I got some seed-starting soil, and planted a few seeds in plantable pots, and watered them about every morning. My family and I were thinking they had little chance of sprouting, since they were so old, but to our surprise, they sprouted yesterday! Beautiful little pumpkin leaves arose. I hope to put some pictures up soon!

My idol.

So as far as cooking and baking goes, my idol is definitely Alton Brown. His show on the Food Network, "Good Eats", is a perfect combination of wonderful cooking and baking know-how, quirkiness, and just downright funniness. I have his books "Good Eats: The Early Years" and "Good Eats: The Middle Years" and I am planning on getting "The Later Years" when it comes out!