The Saga of the 37 Pumpkins - Installment No. 19 - Pumpkin Milkshake

Patch wondered what a bagel was. He thought he might remember his parents talking about one that had dug a hole in the patch, but he couldn't place what kind of creature they'd been talking about.

"Patch!" someone with a rough stalk poked Patch in the back. 

Patch turned about. The young man who'd poked him was a rosy-cheeked, round young man with a few lenticels revealing that he'd reached physical maturity; his bright smile indicated that the exuberance of youth had not yet left him. 

"Hey, old boy! I remember going to classes with you!"

Patch shook his head, still not recognizing the sanguine face. "I'm afraid I don't recognize you. What's your name? And what are you doing here?"

The guy chuckled. "Ah, I believe the question is not what I am doing, but what you are doing, my chap."

He reached out his stalk and let it hang there. Patch froze. What was he trying to do?

"What are you doing?"

"I'd like to shake your hand!"

"What on garden is a hand?"

Overhead passed a man around the same age as Patch's new companion. He, like all the others who had gone to the keepers recently, was singing some tune about turning into pumpkin something. 

"Isn't it just beautiful, Patch?"

And then there were 17...

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Pumpkin Milkshake

Ingredients:

• 3 cups vanilla ice cream
• 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• Dash of ground cloves

Instructions:

Dissolve the sugar in the milk, then pour into a blender. Add the ice cream, pumpkin, and spices, then blend until smooth. Pour into 2-4 glasses and serve.