Aug-Sept '22 Prompt - Pum pum PUMPKINS...!?

The space was full of people meandering about - a false 'pumpkin patch', as the pumpkins were all in bins for sale instead of growing on the vine. Tabbi didn't mind much, though. Most of the gaggle was located in the orange pumpkin section, which suited her perfectly fine. Orange was really overrated. She was here for color.

While the majority of the bins held maybe orange pumpkins perfect for carving, there were a few bins that held other specimens. Labelled only as 'decorative' and 'tiny', the extra bins contained a mishmash of pumpkins only segregated by size. Greens, blues, pinks, browns, whites...

She peered into the fin labelled 'tiny' first. It seemed to only hold baby boos and smaller sugar pumpkins. She inspected a few baby boos - their texture was smooth and their taste was sweet, and the size was perfect for individual recipes. After some time, she had a couple of boos chosen out. One would make a wonderful pumpkin bread, soft and moist and sweet. The other would be slowly brewed with apples and oranges and mulling spices until it could be pureed into a thick and delicious seasonal drink. Hot, of course - always hot.

She didn't even glance at any of the sugar pumpkins. Too watery, not enough taste.

She moved along to the other 'decorative' bins. These were larger - some even liked to be about thirty pounds, if she had to guess - so she would only be able to get one for now. She dug through them all, searching through pumpkins and squashes alike for her perfect one. Hubbards, Cinderellas, porcelain dolls, she even saw a cushaw in one! 

Eventually, she settled on a kuri squash. Beautifully red and with a shape reminiscent of a shallot, the squash was only around ten pounds. It was a slightly bitter variety, but one that she knew mixed perfectly into a smooth soup. It would become part of a creamy, yet spicy soup, served with crispy toast to warm the very soul. The size was perfect for her, since she already had two baby boos she was going to get.

As she left the pumpkin patch with her haul, eager thoughts of anything but pumpkin spice danced through her head.