more prep done

Cornbread stuffing is now done. And so is the pumpkin pie. The cornbread came out surprisingly blond, but it tasted great. I used a mix of rough-ground cornmeal and finer masa harina. The bread was beautiful; it was almost a shame to use it in the stuffing.

A closeup of one piece:

The stuffing looks ugly, as it always does, but it tastes fine. Aside from using cornbread instead of panko, I also added boiled chestnuts to the mix:

And for good or ill, here's the "pumpkin" (dan-hobak) pie, which hasn't cracked yet:

There's a cute-but-annoying bubble right in the center of the pie. I thought about popping it, then decided not to mar the pie's surface, which looks as if it has at least the potential to crack.

Everything's coming together.

FRIDAY UPDATE: still no cracks! And that central bubble has popped on its own.