Dear Friends,

Beware the unacknowledged goblin lurking just under the surface of our national, special occasion happy-face! Boo! Gotcha! I'm pulling the sheet off the Ghost of Holiday Ambivalence, and this is not a Halloween costume. It's a subject that is largely taboo in our always-trying-to-appear-cheerful culture, largely unspoken, but hiding, nonetheless, in the long, late-afternoon shadows of the white picket fence. Holidays can be a pain. There, I said it. And Halloween can be the most problematic of all.

If you've got kids, you now need to worry about all sorts of dangers in the treat as well as the trick. Even back in a more innocent era, when this was not a problem (real or imagined) there was still the issue of junk-food overload from the candy. And for those of you who don't have kids, and are not saints, let me guess. Does your problem tend to be the doorbell ringing every 32 seconds over a period of two hours, with the group on the stoop becoming less cute and more jaded as the evening progresses, to the point where you really believe they might re-do your front lawn in high shaving-cream-style sculpture?

The original intent of Halloween included celebration of the autumn season, the harvest moon, the transcendence of souls and the mysteries of being, and now this holiday has now become a festival of movie character tie-in costumes, cheap chocolate, and branded packaging, with sugar rushes and cavities in the aftermath. Okay, admittedly this is a very Scrooge-like attitude, for which I somewhat apologize. Halloween is also fun for many, I know. So let's try to get back some of the wholesome ethos of yesteryear with its more low-key and subtle possibilities. Does this sound better? We can turn away from bemoaning the commercial and junkier aspects, and focus on one of Halloween's richest, most wonderful and life-affirming symbols: namely, the fabulous, delicious, venerable, multi-faceted pumpkin.

As part of your holiday ritual this year, consider a family field trip to a pumpkin patch. If that sounds a little remote and sentimental – and there aren't any old-fashioned pumpkin patches in your charmingly cranky neighbors' yard or on the outskirts of your innocent town – then how about a visit to a pumpkin stand or an autumn farmers' market? Kids love this (and so do many adults). Ask the grower or purveyor to show you the various kinds of pumpkins available, and I would wager that there are at least several.

It's really fun, also, to see how the pumpkins grow on a vine and for children to grasp the fact that their jack-o-lantern candidates are from nature and really grow on a plant. Many of today's kids (and adults) have no clue! Many also don't realize that the same plant produces the item that becomes pumpkin pie or bread or muffins, as they usually see only the finished product and not the ingredient. (And if we see the ingredient, it's usually on its way out of a can.)

Buy two (or three or four) pumpkins – one for cooking and the other(s) for carving. Keep in mind (and I'm sure the purveyor will also tell you) that different types of pumpkins have their special uses. Larger ones that tend to be stringier in texture make better jack-o-lanterns. Smaller "sugar" pumpkins, fleshed with more tightly-structured fiber and a much sweeter flavor (making them a more tender mouthful), are the ones to eat.

When you return from your pumpkin-procuring excursion, you can put the carving specimens aside and have a pumpkin-roasting session right away. It's downright enlightening for children (and for many adults) to learn how to roast fresh pumpkin and toast the seeds (and to experience first-hand, I mean first-nose, the exquisite, evocative aromas of same). The seeds can then become healthy snack food, and the roasted flesh can be a side-dish for dinner and the basis for a fantastic baked item. In the following recipes, we'll do all three: Roast the pumpkin, toast the seeds, and make some delightful pumpkin muffins that are easy enough for your children to co-create, and satisfying enough to expand their view of Halloween food beyond The Sweet and The Packaged.

Whole Pumpkin:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Place a 3 to 4-pound sugar pumpkin on a baking tray.
3. Very carefully make several serious slits, all the way through the flesh, with a sharp knife (not a job for children!!!) These will be the steam valves.
4. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a fork or sharp knife slides in easily.
5. Remove the tray from the oven,and let it cool until the pumpkin is comfortable to handle. Then cut the pumpkin open, and pull out and save the seeds.

You can serve the roasted pumpkin in chunks, still attached to the skin, as a side dish with butter, salt, and a little maple syrup if desired.

You can also mash it for baking. (It needs to be smooth to be a good baking ingredient.) Use a spoon to scrape the flesh from the skin, and mash the with a potato masher or pureé in a food processor.

Yield: 3 cups mashed pumpkin from a 3-pound sugar pumpkin

Halved Pumpkin:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Line a baking tray with foil and coat it with canola oil.
3. Split a 3 to 4-pound pumpkin and cut out the seeds and their stringy surroundings with scissors.
4. Save the seeds, if desired.
5. Place the cut pumpking flesh side-down on the prepared tray and bake in the center of the oven for 1 1/2 hours or until the flesh is fork- or knife-tender.
6. Proceed the same as above.

Remove all the stringy pulp from the seeds. (Easiest to do this under running water.) Soak the pumpkin seeds overnight in lightly salted water, then drain thoroughly. If you are a perfectionist, you can then dry the seeds for a couple of days (spread them on paper towels in a single layer on a tray) and they will come out the crispiest. If you are not a perfectionist, just pat the seeds dry, and proceed right away with the following:

1. Preheat the oven to 250°F.
2. Line a baking tray with foil and coat with olive oil.
3. Spread the seeds in a single layer on the olive oil.
4. Place the tray in the center of the oven, and bake for up to an hour or longer (sometimes this takes 2 to 3 hours!), stirring at approximately 10 minute intervals, until the pumpkin seeds are crisp and lightly brown and/or done to your liking. Keep careful watch during this whole process so you can catch the seeds before they're overdone or burnt. (NOTE: By this time, the children you are supposedly doing this project with will have become so bored with the waiting process, they will be out shooting hoops or elsewhere. But the upside is, they will have forgotten about it and therefore be surprised.)
5. Allow the seeds to cool completely (the cooler, the crisper) then eat or pack airtight and refrigerate.