Welcome to the new school year! We want to extend a warm welcome to all returning and new students. We are now located in the Queens Innovation Center, off of Northern Blvd, in the heart of Woodside. 

   Probably the most famous holiday in America, Halloween, occurs annually on the last day of October. Originally a pagan holiday, it has roots in a Gaelic/Celtic festival of Samhain, a festival celebrating the end of the harvest season and the start of winter. It was a festival during a period of time where mythological creatures and dead people were able to cross over to our world and cause chaos and discord. People offered food and drinks as appeasements, to ensure people and their livestock would survive the winter. Guising or Mumming, originating from the Scottish/Irish, was another tradition where people dressed up in costumes and knocked on others’ doors, reciting verses for food. Sounds familiar?  Certain traditions from Samhain have been translated into modern Halloween traditions. For instance, the aforementioned dressing up in costumes and knocking on doors reciting the phrase “trick or treat.” However, the origins of trick or treating has been debated between the Samhain tradition of leaving food out as appeasement, guising or belsnickeling, an American-German Christmas practice.  Jack o’ lanterns, also synonymous with the holiday, originated from the tradition of carving turnips. But enough of the musty history of Halloween. Hang a ghost in your window. Enjoy a good scary movie. Happy Halloween everybody. 

Written By: Jason Yan

Sources: Blogs, Wikipedia 

   As we enter spooky season, the fabled ‘Pumpkin’ makes its rounds. A pumpkin is a part of the squash family, and the cucurbita genus. It is an icon of the Fall season, but more specifically, the time of ghosts and ghouls. This year, after you’re done with your scooping of a pumpkin’s guts for your jack-o-lanterns, try some new things! The innards of a pumpkin can not only be delicious, but a healthy little snack. 

Once you've separated the pumpkin's insides from its skin, you can separate the seeds, stringy bits, and pumpkin flesh to make 3 different snacks! If you wash, soak, salt, toss in oil, and then bake them, pumpkin seeds are a quick little salty snack that are not only on par with chips, but much more healthy, as they are packed with nutrients and fiber, and are great to munch on. For the stringy guts and flesh, you can mix them up into a puree or add them to some flour, sugar, spices, eggs, oil, and water to make a fresh delicious loaf of pumpkin bread. (Or follow this recipe if you don’t want to eyeball the ingredients: How to Cook a Whole Pumpkin and Recipe for Pumpkin Gut Bread)

Now the next time you carve up a pumpkin, you know that it will not only satiate your need to cut and maim something, it’ll satiate your hunger!

Written By: Lucinda Wilson-Petty

Sources: Eating Richly, Harvard Health