(versione italiana)

I know this post of mine has absolutely nothing to do with the cycling world, but, before being a cycling lover, I am completely in love with my children and I spent yesterday afternoon carving some pumpkins with and for them.

Then I was asked how to make them and now…here I am…

Now, waiting for my next cycling ride (it the weather lets me…), here are the instructions!

PS: All the pictures of this post hsve been taken yesterday by my eldest daughter, who is six years old. Without her support I coudn’t have published this post. I love you, my sweetheart!

What you need:

1 washable marker
1 sharp knife
1 spoon
1 ice cream scoop
1 candle
Plenty of newspaper to protect work surface
Large bowl for pumpkin seeds and flesh

Wash the pumpkin in warm water. I added some baking soda to get rid of any possibile bacteria. Draw a kind of a circle around the stalk with a washable marker. Take a sharp knife and cut the hole.  Now remove the top.

Remember to tilt the point of the knife into the centre of the pumpkin. This way, it will prevent the lid from falling in.

Scoop out flesh, pulp, and seeds with your hands at first, and then with a spoon or an ice cream scoop, which works perfectly for this. If you don’t feel like putting your hands into the pumpkin, use a pair of disposable gloves.

You are now ready to carve! The pumpkins I bought had already   “pumpkin face” stickers on them, so it was easy to choose the design.. If you are using a stencil, transfer your paper stencil onto the pumpkin and trace the design by poking holes with a skewer or a sharp tool.

When you are done, remove the paper stencil and you will have a clearly marked outline of where you have to carve the face. You can now carve your pumpkin with a short sharp knife.

Grasp the knife like a pencil and hold it at a right angle to the pumpkin. Move it steadily up and down, working from dot to dot.

When you are done, simply knock out the carved pieces and now trim up the edges, angles, corners and inside of the pumpkin with a knife.

Place your candle inside, turn the light off and

BOOOOOOOOO!!! Happy Halloween!