🎃 Pumpkin season special · A bonus adventure
Pumpkin Night on the River
I had a plan. I had a pumpkin. I had very good teeth. Two out of three turned out to be useful.
Every October the Riverbank Inn lines its dock with glowing pumpkins, one for every boat that stops by. This year Chef Tamás put me in charge of the biggest one.
I am a beaver. I have been taking the tops off things since I was small. So I took the top off the pumpkin the way I know best.
It was not a clean cut. It was a half-moon bite, a little sticky, and a lot of seeds in my whiskers. Pippa laughed so hard she had to sit down on the dock.
Then she reached into her apron and pulled out a tiny orange saw, the plastic kind that comes in a cheap kit. “Teeth for wood,” she said, doing her best Granny Birch voice. “Saws for pumpkins.”
The little saw was ridiculous. It was also brilliant. Short, gentle strokes, no big knife slipping on a round, slippery pumpkin. By sunset there were eight grinning faces on the dock, and only one of them had a bite out of its head.
The seeds went into the oven. The scraped-out flesh went to the kitchen, because nothing goes to waste in Chef Tamás’s kitchen. And the bitten pumpkin? It got the best spot on the dock. Pippa says it has character.
🎃 Pumpkin night picks (the cheap ones that actually work)
- Pumpkin Masters All-In-One Decorating Kit: The winner of Reviewed’s hands-on carving kit test: two small saws, a scraper and a drill, and the “fastest, safest-feeling carve” they tried. Pippa’s saw. (about $6) · Check on Amazon
- Pumpkin Masters Halloween Master Carving Kit: Reviewed’s runner-up. A few more tools for a bigger pumpkin party. (about $10) · Check on Amazon
- USA Pan 9-inch Pie Pan: Co-winner in America’s Test Kitchen’s pie plate testing. For the pumpkin that doesn’t end up on the dock. (about $21) · Check on Amazon
- CDN ProAccurate oven thermometer: ATK’s best analog oven thermometer. Roasted pumpkin seeds burn fast in an oven that runs hot. Ask Hazel. (about $6) · Check on Amazon
Sources: Reviewed’s pumpkin carving kit test and America’s Test Kitchen’s pie plate review. Prices checked October 2026; they change often. Kids should carve with a grown-up. Affiliate links: how we make money.
Who’s who: Pippa the Otter · Hazel the Squirrel · Granny Birch
Gerzsi and his friends are made up. Chef Tamás is real. The gear is real.
