BBQ Chicken with Jamaican Pumpkin, Rice, Bean Salad and Coleslaw

Drew's Mom is stopping over for the evening on her jetsetting way to Thunder Bay to visit her brother and youthful stomping grounds. Raul is feeling the pressure to produce a gourmet but traditional dinner, so while Drew and his mom wander the nearby Danforth and thrift stores - though mainly they are just visiting and catching up - Raul works in the kitchen.

He rubs chicken breasts with his favourite combo of spices - paprika, Greek oregano, pepper and, for Drew's Mom's tastes, just a touch of garlic powder (he omits the usual salt) - and sets it aside to marinate for bbq'ing. He puts brown rice in the rice cooker and is confident having ascertained that brown rice requires a bit more water and some extra cooking time to be perfect and for the grains to not clump. The bean salad and coleslaw are already prepared.

Raul has purchased a large slab of Jamaican pumpkin after the eventual success of Drew's spaghetti squash debacle. Drew's Mom loves squash and this will, hopefully, be a taste treat with a bit of a difference. He slices the squash into inch and a half squares and then tosses them in olive oil and cumin. The pumpkin bakes in a glass baking pan for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Drew's Mom has brought carrot cake so the pressure to bake dessert is lifted. He plans to serve the cake on the Halloween plates that were a gift from Drew's Mom from one of her nostalgia trips to the shopping mecca of Thunder Bay.

The meal is a big success and the pumpkin is flavourful and tastes of the best of autumn and the tropics. Drew's Mom has nothing but praise and Raul is proud and relieved. Now if there was only space for a proper dining room table so that she didn't have to eat on the coffee table . . .