Well, I don't know anything about buff pie, however, I did find out that I had gotten a spaghetti squash in my squash seed mix. It isn't pale yellow either. It starts out looking like a pregnant zucchini and turns white. I have the Garden Seed Inventory book from back in 1999 and it doesn't list "Buff Pie". However, here is the listing for Vegetable Spaghetti. 'ready to harvest when skin turns from cream to buff, keeps for 6 months.' Those that carried it in 1999, Abbott & Cobb, Inc; Abundant Life Seed Foundation; Alberta Nurseries & Seeds, Ltd.; Johnny's Selected Seed there are about 50 suppliers of this seed. Steph

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, two of our kids and their mates decided on the spur of the moment to come for the day and instead of a big holiday meal...we did a Sicilian Easter Dinner. I made my canner full of red sauce (Sunday Gravy as the old timers call it) and cooked meatballs, sausage, eggs, potato's, and 6 little thin sliced steaks in the sauce. Now obviously I knew 6 of us were not going to eat that much...but I was making extra for the freezer. I have lots and lots of tomatoes planted this year and I'm hoping for a bumper crop so I can can some too.

Four hours at 350 degrees is a lot more than you would need to cook a pumpkin. If memory serves, I think one hour is plenty! :) Can you fit several into the oven at the same time? Do you have a freezer where you could store the pulp? Or could you can it? I take it you now have ten left. Preparing all of them is the only way I know of that will allow you to know which are going to give you pumpkin pulp and which are going to give you spaghetti, but you're going to end up with lots of pulp, especially if they are very big. Do they all look alike on the outside? There are many good uses for spaghetti squash, and it does retain its texture. Yes, I would write and at least let Mr. Hume know what happened. --Ilene

I'd put some stiff plastic or parchment wrapped cardboard, along the cut sides and top. Or maybe freeze partway first and use plastic wrap. Remove before thawing. The more air you keep out, the better it will be. The issue with the crust is that you can't heat it to toast it back up. If it's not nice when thawed, you can always reimagine it, like maybe break it up into a parfait or trifle.