My mother-in-law sent my wife and I an email with a story she thought we might enjoy from the Mirror newspaper in the United Kingdom. People are now realising they've been carving pumpkins incorrectly because to a woman's "brilliant" hack, according to the headline.
I wasn't going to click on, but the intriguing headline made me wonder if I had been carving pumpkins incorrectly for the past 40+ years or not. It turns out that the narrative and accompanying movie are about a 73-year-old grandmother of eight who became a significant figure during the pandemic.
Chicago native Barbara "Babs" Costello and her daughter manage the TikTok account @brunchwithbabs, which has gathered over 2.4 million followers and likely had more viral videos than Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian put together. They undoubtedly produce content with deeper depth.
Just in time for Halloween, one of Babs' most recent films went viral and received an astounding 24 million+ views. In just 59 seconds, I discovered that, yes, I have been carving pumpkins incorrectly. Here is Babs' video, along with all of her wonderful advice:
1. Start carving at the bottom.
You have the stem to grip onto if you slice your pumpkin from the bottom up, and you can just as easily slide it over a candle or flashlight. <—- This is entirely logical. Why have everyone I know—including myself—been carving from the top?
2. To carve the pumpkin, hold it in your lap.
The pumpkin will be lot easier for you to cut. <—- This one seems sense, but I haven't tried it yet. I advise you to proceed with caution since I can also see some serious injuries occurring if you're not careful.
3. Create a sketch of your idea using a red dry erase marker.
If you miss a spot, it blends in and erases easily. <—- My mistake... It's really ridiculous that I've been using a PEN for so long. Seriously. The Google employees would never hire me if they learned.
4. To clean out your pumpkin, use a hand mixer.
You better believe I'm going to give it a try tomorrow even though I've never even considered it and I can't say I know where ours is.
5. To carve your pattern, use cookie cutters and a rubber mallet.
Brilliant. Absolutely outstanding You can see how stupidly simple this is by watching the video. I'll have to start creating Jack-O-Lantern cookie cutters right now.
6. Apply Vaseline to all cut surfaces.
Babs advises covering the pumpkin's entire carved surface to maintain moisture after carving. Carved pumpkins ought to survive one to two weeks! <—- We literally have a jar of Vaseline in every room of our home, and I use it several times a day to keep my lips moisturised (ever since I had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from my lip and my doctor said Vaseline is much better than Chapstick.)
7. Add some cinnamon.
For a festive pumpkin spice scent when a candle is lighted inside the pumpkin, Babs advises dusting some cinnamon on the interior. <—- I'm on board with this. Babs, you are a genius.
Babs is a genius, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. @Dukaroo's comment, "My God, Babs, you NEVER fail to impress and teach me something new, and motivating," is the most popular one on her TikTok video. It got 80,000 likes just for this comment.
One more person wrote: "God, I love you! I have spent the last 40+ years of my life doing everything incorrectly!
Happy Halloween to you and everyone else, I hope this post was helpful!
