The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window

Listen awhile, and you'll hear it, too

October 2, 2012

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. Spent the afternoon doing yard work, mostly raking and trimming and gathering up the detritus that can go nasty under several feet of snow. They say the blustery winds are coming, and that's fine with me. Let 'em blow. It'll be a sight to see, I'm sure, all those leaves hurling through the air. I've been getting the work done early this week so this weekend I might watch the leaves dancing. Mowed, cleaned the garage, washed sheets.

Spent much of Monday at the orthodontist, too, where my youngest spent close to an hour with her mouth open as the doctor fitted her upper teeth with braces. The lower ones will come in two weeks. She's been a good sport about it all, really. No headgear, but there will be a retainer, and rubberbands. She won't be able to eat some of her favorite foods, unless I frappe them first. She'll wear the braces until the autumn of 2014. And the doctor explained how a surgeon will make an incision in the roof of her mouth and little gold chains will be attached to the two teeth still buried up in there, and yanked on periodically in order to pull them down to their proper places. I thought I heard him say "stitched raw flesh." My knees felt a bit weak.

Her response? "Do I get to pick the color of my rubberbands?" She chose a blue-green. Color of her eyes. The big drawback for her? "You mean I can't chew gum?" I explained that some types of gum will work fine. But not that sugary watermelon stuff. She looked out of the window as we drove away. "I'm hungry," she said. "I'd love a piece of chicken." And so we stopped at her favorite fast food chicken place, and got one chicken breast: boneless, skinless, lightly breaded - and a strawberry smoothie. When we got home, she carefully placed the chicken on a small plate, and with a knife and fork, gently cut the chicken into small pieces as she'd been instructed. She chewed gingerly, smiled at me. "This isn't so bad," she said. "Not bad at all."

Nice thing about young people. They remind us of what's good in life. Listen awhile, and you'll hear it, too.

Deliciously simple, this pie is all about comfort.

Sweet Hubbard Squash Custard Pie

2 ½ pounds Hubbard squash - cut into chunks and seeds removed
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 ½ tsp apple pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
2 T salted butter, softened
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 400. Line a large baking sheet with foil.

Arrange squash on lined baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven until the skin is browned and flesh is tender, about 45 minutes; allow to cool. Remove flesh from squash using a spoon.

Reduce oven temp to 375.

Place 2 cups of squash in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the brown sugar, eggs, cream, apple pie spice, salt, and butter; process until smooth.

Pour the squash mixture into the pie crust. Bake until the filling rises, about 1 hour.

Serves 8.

Enjoy!

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