Skunked again!

Verb

Past tense: skunked; past participle: skunked

1. Informal•North American English Defeat (someone) overwhelmingly in a game or contest, especially by preventing them from scoring at all.

Yes, that’s what happened to me in the upteenth Annual Cutthroat Tunno Pumpkin Pie Contest.

I didn’t even place and I was convinced that Penzey’s Pumpkin Pie Spice was going to get me there. I even put my mom’s giant ceramic baby Jesus on the table for good luck, but clearly, even he was overwhelmed by too many choices. C’est la vie.

The winner was Alessandro Tunno, a nine-year-old. Muiriel Tunno’s pie took second place, she’s eleven.. And my brothers Bernie and Bob, tied for third. I am both proud of my great-nephew and niece, and incredulous that my decades of pie making experience have not taught me more.

When you’re tasting nine pies, they start to all taste the same, but there is always at least one that stands out. Mine wasn’t one of them. (Play sad hamster violin music here.) Some say it’s the sugar, or the spices, but who knows?

If you’re an expert on pumpkin pie, please weigh in so I can get some clarity on this and maybe win one more time before I croak.

Maybe it’s because I don’t really like pumpkin pie that I haven’t worked on making my pie better. That’s the best excuse I can come up with.

I heard that Williams Sonoma has a good recipe. They use brown sugar instead of white for their Classic Pumpkin Pie, which was rated at 4.5 stars. But their Autumn Leaf Pumpkin Pie got 5 stars and it uses both.

Maybe I’ll try again today and see what I can do, since I do have some pumpkin left over and my house is finally clean after hosting Thanksgiving. Or maybe I’ll just sit, drink a lemon, honey, Rock and Rye hot toddy, watch Stranger Things, and live with getting skunked again next year.

On a happier note, my audiobook, Come on Down! A Little Story About my Italian Mom’s Big Dream, is set to come out this month! We are looking at a December 17th release, but it could be sooner…I hope. Much as I tried to get it out sooner, the book and ebook won’t come out until January.

As always (and definitely not mandatory) if you enjoy this blog and would like to be a supporter so I can dig myself out of the horrendous debt I’m putting myself in while self-publishing, just click on buymeacoffee.com/FranTunno

I am thankful for each of you. Thank you for reading, following, and being supporters of this blog! I hope your Thanksgiving was fabulous (if not, try my Rosemary,Lemon, Garlic Roast Turkey next year!) I made it, so did both my kids, and it got rave reviews! Today is the fourth day I’m eating leftover scraps of it and I’m still not sick of it.

May the coming holidays bring you the love of family and friends, happiness, health, comfort, and great food!