The pumpkin quest.

We set out on our adventure to find a pumpkin. I was able to secure all the necessary ingredients for a traditional pumpkin pie…except the pumpkin. We asked at our usual Inka market and they did not understand what a pumpkin was. The one person who spoke the best English said, “I think we no have that.” So we headed out down the street to check other markets. Our favorite souvenir store didn’t have one.

This place didn’t have one, but they did have rotisserie chicken so in the spirit of “Up” we said , “squirrel” and took our chicken home for lunch.

After lunch and a nap we walked back up the street the other way to check out other markets. This time we stopped at our regular market and I had written, in Greek, the word for what Google translator told me was “pumpkin”. I showed it to the clerk and asked if they had one. She walked over and showed me a zucchini. Now, either Google lied or the clerk figured I wouldn’t know the difference. Either way, we still had no pumpkin. We walked a little farther and found the small market where we shop when the usual market it closed. Here we found a banana squash the size of a small child.

When I was a kid my mom would cook and bottle banana squash and make squash pies that tasted just like pumpkin pie, so I figured the squash would work. Jay hoisted the giant gourd onto the scales as I showed my paper to the nice older Greek gentleman and asked if he had pumpkins. In his very broken English he said “Nai” (which means yes in Greek) then proceeded to try to make me understand that what I had on the scales was not a kolokythi, and finally took my paper and wrote the word for what I was purchasing, pointed at my gourd and then pointed at the word like, “you stupid American, this in not a pumpkin” I smiled like I understood, thanked him and

Jay shouldered the squash to carry it home. I know everyone watching us walk home with our giant vegetable were wondering what the crazy Americans were going to do with the giant squash.

We cut it up, scraped out the seeds

and I cooked it and made my pumpkin aka squash puree. Tomorrow I will make pie crust from scratch and bake my pumpkin pies. I feel like such a pilgrim.