First, I cut the a small raw pumpkin to many small pieces, and put them into the water to boil. After ten minutes or so, however, I realize that this will bring much water into the pumpkin, and the final mashed pumpkin will be more watery than expected. So I take the pumpkin out and cook it will steam instead. It really is a better way to do it, and more efficient, since the pumpkin is really soft and aromatic after several minutes. I then use a big spoon to separate the pulp and the skin. This takes a longer time, since the pumpkin is still very hot and I stumble to scoop the pulp out of it. After I throw away the pumpkin skin, I put the pumpkin into a blender and puree it for a while. However, the blender works less ideal than the back of the spoon, so I use that instead. It is easier than I expected, since the pumpkin is already nice and soft after being cooked. After I mash the pumpkin and make it as smooth as possible, I use a hand mixer to break up the already softened cream cheese. Then I add the pumpkin and mix them together. A cup of condensed milk (regular milk boiled in the pan, and simmered for a while to lose some water), two small eggs, two tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, pinch of salt, 1/4 cup of sugar, and two tablespoon of ground cinnamon are then added to the mixture and mixed well one by one. At first I'm afraid the mixture is too thin, because I seem to have added too much milk, but the amount of the mixture is actually perfect for the pie crust. I then put it into the oven, baked at 450F for ten minutes, and baked at 350F for the remaining of time. While it is baking, I chop some pecans and coat it with olive oil and sugar, and when there's about fifteen minutes left for the pie, I pour the mixture evenly onto the surface of the pie. It is ready in an hour. 

   The apartment, by now, is filled with delicious smell. I eat a baked pecan; it tastes delicious. But the recipe says that the pie needs to be refrigerated overnight to be served, so I let it cool in the kitchen and put it into the fridge before my mom and I lose control of our appetite. 

   The pie tastes amazing. Cream cheese and milk gives it an extra boost of that smooth, creamy ,and rich texture. It could've tasted better if I used more cream cheese, or if I used butter instead of olive oil. But since it's healthier the way I made it, and right now all I could think of is trying to enjoy delicious food without gaining weight, I am quite happy with the texture of the one I made. The only thing I should improve on is the flavor. The pie has just the right sweetness, but I could've added more spice. Since I only have ground cinnamon on hand, I didn't bother to get ground ginger and nutmeg. The pumpkin pie tastes just like pumpkin; not that it doesn't taste good, just that it could've been better with the spice that the original recipe asks for. However, with all the limited ingredients I had, this is really the best pumpkin pie I could possibly make. I'm really happy with myself. 

   I could've finished the book, Son of the Revolution, much quicker if I wasn't distracted by my kitchen business. I picked it up quite unwillingly, since at that very moment I was out of books to read. I bought it back in the summer, because it was recommended by one of the Hotchkiss teachers (it wasn't until later that I found out that it's my art history teacher, Dr. Drake), but I never really bothered to read it. My mom read it, however, and she thought it was a fair account of what happened during the Culture Revolution in China. I am a romantic, and I always avoid wars or revolutions when it comes to reading history, for I'm afraid they will pain me so much. Culture Revolution, though obviously important in the course of modern Chinese history and has an astonishingly long duration of time for 10 years, has never been the subject upon which I want to dwell. Both of my parents were born when it began, but it ended just when they began to remember things. Also, my parents were a hundred percent "villagers," so their families weren't too negatively affected. I used to be curious about the entire revolution, since the Chinese textbook was only too obviously evasive about the topic. The entire chaos happened for ten years, but only took up less than two pages in the textbook; I was partly "hooked" by how few details were given to account what happened. Later I learned many more about history of other countries and of other time periods, and I lost my interest in knowing what happened. But the novel is really readible, and I couldn't stop once I started it. Things described in the book are still all too familiar in today's China: the self-criticism, the "backdoor," the politically correct speeches, the Party's propaganda, the government officials' own ways of ruling and corruption, the Youth League and the Young Pioneer which millions of kids tried to get into without knowing why... It is also universal, for it reflects some of the ugliest and most primitive incentives of humans: to live. To live under that extreme circumstances means to sacrifice the welfare of others in order to protect oneself. Granted, there were those who would not budge on principles and their sense of nobility when faced with utmost direness, but most chose to succumb to the pressure of losing their lives or their own small benefits, in cost of giving away the interests of others. I found it extremely fascinating when comparing the entire stage of the revolution where everyone accuse of others to be counterrevolutionaries, to the Salem witch hunt which I read about in the English class. As I wrote in the email to my art history teacher who recommended this book, "People in the Culture Revolution and in the Salem witch hunt all turned fingers to others and accused them of wrongdoing in order to direct the attention away from themselves, since we commonly think that accusers could not be accused. The McCarthyism in America in the mid 20th century also shared the same, almost frenetic, sentiment. It is interesting to think that the Culture Revolution, though so exclusively Chinese, also reflects something universal. "

   It's been a great experience reading and cooking, and I also started preparing for TOEFL this morning. Things are doing great, and I will miss the holiday time so terribly when school starts. 

   Peace out. Keep tuned!