Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen

It had been with us for a long time.  A really long time.  Weeks, even months.  It looked the same as when it first graced our living space, nothing about it had changed.  It sat solemnly in the drawer at the bottom of the refrigerator, never complaining or doing much of anything in particular.  It was just being itself, a butternut squash.

Arguing seems to be the best thing to do anymore and the birth of the butternut squash is no exception.  It is a winter squash and was developed in Massachusetts somewhere back in the early half of the 1900's.  There are two claims to fame for the squash, known as a pumpkin on the other half of the globe, hence the reason for the argument.  

Since deciding to try new foods, I purchased the butternut squash after having a delectable experience with a spaghetti squash.  One thing about winter squash, their hides are tougher than nails and I was hoping the butternut would not be as challenging as the spaghetti had been.  As usual, when it comes to much of anything that goes on in the kitchen, my hopes were all but naught.  Another thing about winter squash, they do not come stamped with an expiration date, so I figured it was still good.

This time, I let my husband use the recip-saw to cut through the squash....while I held it......something I shan't do again anytime soon.  The halves fell apart and upon close inspection the squash looked to be as good as the day it was purchased. According to the directions, the next step was to peel it.

Peeling a butternut squash, or attempting to, sent me back to a time when I used to go fishing.  I fished during the summers as much as possible.  One of my favorite water holes was teaming with snapping turtles and the owner had told me they would be more than happy to have a few of them gone.  I had watched one behemoth of a turtle trying to grab my fish, that were at the water's edge, on a stringer.  I set out to catch it, and I did.  I had never dressed a turtle before and had many suggestions as to how to do it. To make a really long story short, my turtle experience went something like this:  I wrestled that turtle all over my back yard, had to call in the help of an experienced outdoors-man and even had to set up spot lights to get the job completed.

After that experience, I learned two things.  One, the first person who ever decided to eat a snapping turtle had to be one of the hungriest people on the face of the planet and two, I vowed to never do it again.  

By the time I got the butternut squash peeled, I ranked it right up there with the turtle.