In the kitchen with Primitive: pumpkin season.

This was my first year celebrating Halloween since 2005. A combination of living in tropical climates and in the Southern Hemisphere has meant that my Octobers have been spent in warm climes unsuited to spooky atmosphere. So I was happy this year to have the holiday just as we plunged into chilly weather; I was even happier when a small blue truck appeared at our local morning market, loaded with some incredibly beautiful pumpkins.

I picked up a few (along with a handsome squash) in unnatural shades of pale dusty orange and mossy blue-green-- they were so beautiful, that I felt some strong reservations about carving them. Gravity settled the decision for me when the squash toppled over and gashed the perfect incision to start carving an eye. I drew a face, cut the squash open from the bottom, and scooped out the seeds-- and was flashed back to my childhood with the sickly sweet smell of a pumpkin's insides hitting newspaper. I enjoyed the experience enough that I ended up carving a second pumpkin.

The pumpkins that were spared carving are being roasted in batches. I grew up thinking that the only way to eat pumpkin was to start by scooping it out of a squat orange can, but starting from is actually incredibly easy and much tastier. Just cut the pumpkin in half, roast it cut-side down, and then scoop out the flesh once it's gotten soft. We've frozen 1.5 cup portions in plastic bags, so we'll have a November full of orange baked goods spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

A single pumpkin will produce a surprising amount of flesh, but even if the charms of pumpkin pie and bread wear thin, there are load of other ways to use pumpkin. We made pumpkin sandwich cookies (nutmeg and cinnamon cookies with a filling of cream cheese, sugar and pumpkin), spiced pumpkin muffins, and an incredibly rich pumpkin ice cream. You can also use it in soup, curry, pastas...

And with all of those seeds you scoop out, you can sweet and spicy pumpkin seeds, which make a fantastic snack (especially with some nuts and chocolate chips), a tasty addition to muesli, and a fun topping to sprinkle on pumpkin muffins.

Though I must admit, just carving the thing might be the best way to celebrate the season. Happy Halloween.

In the kitchen with primitive: a tart for spring.

I never really used to like either pies or tarts, but lately I've been developing an interest in them. Partly, its because they seem more seasonal than any other dessert. Cakes are generally the same throughout the year (aside from some specific holidays), but tarts are so reliant on what's fresh and in season. So last night when my family had a small spring dinner, I had the perfect opportunity to try making a tart fitting the season.

I chose the one featured on the April/May cover of Readymade, a ginger ricotta tart with rhubarb and strawberry jam. I still feel that in many ways I'm just finding my way in the kitchen, so I like making dishes that help familiarize me with new skills or ingredients. This tart was great because it knocked two things off my list: making my own ricotta cheese, and cooking with rhubarb.

I'd been curious to make ricotta because I'd heard it was the easiest cheese to start with. I especially like the idea of making my own cheese in Taiwan, since good cheese in Asia is rare, expensive, and usually imported. I found a recipe at Epicurious, which got an incredible number of reviews saying how easy it was to make, and how delicious the end result was. Making the ricotta would, I think, have been as easy as the reviews said-- had I gone to the somewhat necessary step of making sure we had cheesecloth at home. We didn't. Which had me making a mess of the kitchen just after midnight last night, trying to strain it out through different means. Coffee filters really didn't work at all, but squeezing the liquid through a clean tea-towel sort of did. Anyway, it worked out (mostly, sort of), and I'd love to try making ricotta again (with a cheese-cloth, next time).

But I think this tart would honestly be just as good without making your own ricotta. Buttery flaky crest flavored with ginger, a creamy cheese-cake like filling, and a sour-sweet topping of seasonal fruit. Perfect to celebrate the height of the season.

Anyone else have any favorite spring pies or tarts?