Officially Autumn

We’ve been getting complaints about us not blogging enough. I apologize. We lead busy lives, what can I say? We will try to write more. It’s not that we haven’t been thinking of you…it’s just that we have been doing other things…like joining Costco!

Yes, it’s true. Costco exists in the UK. And we have one about 20 minutes away. About two weeks ago, we made the trip to Costco, fought through the jammed parking lot, and finally got to the membership desk…only to be told that the UK Costco doesn’t just let anyone join! You must be affiliated with certain industries like education, banking, and law. Why on earth a lawyer should receive Costco membership over me, I have no idea.

I was heartbroken. At that moment, Costco was The Ivy or Nobu and we had just been told we weren’t on the guestlist.

Fast forward two weeks and Scott is determined to get us in. He discovers that T-Mobile does offer Costco membership as an employee benefit. So we trekked back to Costco, pushed our way back to the membership desk and passed over the T-Mobile documents. We were in!

With our new Costco cards in hand, we explored the aisles and aisles filled with…well, pretty much everything the US Costcos are filled with. And it was so wonderful! We didn’t buy much because we were in a hurry but we’re eagerly anticipating our next trip back there this weekend!

Could be America! Only without all the hatch-back cars…

Of course the one disappointing part of our Costco trip was finding jumbo pumpkins for half the price we paid for our small pumpkin from Tesco which we bought a few days earlier. I just couldn’t wait. I was feeling nostalgic and insisted we buy a pumpkin to carve. Scott had never carved a pumpkin before so he didn’t really see what all the fuss was about but when I said he could choose the face, he got excited and said, “Ok, we’re not doing anything wimpy.” I had lured him in.

Here are some photos from our carving session:

I had big plans to bake the pumpkin and make homemade pumpkin puree. But to be honest, just digging out and separating the seeds was hard enough. But at that point, I had made such a big deal about roasting the seeds, I couldn’t back down. So 24 hours later, I had nicely salted (if a little chewy) seeds…which Scott moaned, with disgust, “Those stink! Don’t eat those near me. Sick!”

I hadn’t given up on the pumpkin puree, but instead made it my mission to locate and secure Libby’s Pumpkin Pie filling. I was told this would be difficult since the American women I speak to on The Nest had all resorted to making their own puree after several unsuccessful attempts to find the canned version. They swore homemade puree was better anyway…but I was determined to find Libby’s.

I drew a map of where I had last seen the cans of pumpkin (about four months ago) in the grocery store near my old job. For some reason the cans of pumpkin pie filling were tucked away in the soup aisle (crazy Brits!). No wonder the Americans can’t find it. I sent the map and specific directions to my friend who works in the area. On Sunday night we met up at a dinner party and made the exchange. £4 for two cans of Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Filling.

Of course I don’t have any idea what I will do with the pie filling. I’m not a big fan of pumpkin pie. But the point is… I found Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Filling!