Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Halloween - October 31, 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween, got lots of candy, and saw as many cute and scary costumes as I did. The Godkids neighborhood outdid themselves with decorating their homes. I saw a ton of adults dressed up in costumes walking their kids. We had spaghetti tacos for dinner. It was a perfect evening.

Only one problem...see, the Godkids are starting to get older. They are starting to want to go to parties instead of trick or treating. In fact, they wanted to stop trick or treating early so that they could go home and answer the door and scare kids. The Godkids are growing up, sniff, how do I stop it!?

Until next year, Halloween, where the scare will be brought back again....

Oh yeah, and the Sharks lost tonight. That was scary.

 

Halloween - October 30, 2011

I haven't had a lot of time this year to make Halloween treats, so I'm making a big list of what I want to try out next year, and these little Rice Krispie Pops are at the top of the list. I think they make a perfect Halloween treat that isn't too scary or gross for the younger children in your family. And hey, I think the grown-ups will like them too!

They come from a blog called Hungry Happenings which you really must check out. Beth has some wonderful treats posted on her blog that would make any Halloween party a success. Seriously, you'll get lost looking at all the amazing Halloween dishes shes concocted. I dare you not to swoon over the Chocolate Caramel Apple Cats! Decorating a quesadilla with a Halloween stencil? Awesome! Like me she is a huge fan of Halloween and the food, decorations and projects Beth posts on her blog will keep me busy all year.

And if that wasn't enough, she wrote a book on Halloween food! How cool is that? Her Hungry Halloween book shows you how to have a Movie Monster Party (I've already bought the mold to make the Abnormal Brain), A Bewitched Buffet (Gotta try to make the Crackling Crackers and Full Moon Dip) and a Dead Mans Dinner (The Tuna Melt is cute!). But my favorite from the book has to be the Werewolf Won Tons. They would be perfect for Halloween or for your next Twilight movie watching party!

Do check out the Hungry Happenings blog here and check out Beths wonderful Hungry Halloween book here. To find directions to make the Googly Eye Rice Krispie Treat Ghost Pops go here. But be careful...you may end up making Halloween goodies through Christmas!

Halloween - October 29, 2011

Yeah, I know it's not the 29th, but give me a bit of slack while I try to catch up on some of my Halloween posting. One does have to spend time making a Halloween costume and decorating for the holiday you know!

I never know what to do with furniture at Halloween except maybe cover it up with dark blankets. Beige couches don't do well when your body might be tinged with fake blood, clown makeup, spray-on hair dyes that tend to flake, not to mention the possibility of some dark dank drink that could be spilled.

Not that this would keep all those stains and spots away, but this couch cover would at least make your very trendy, hip and not very Halloweenish couch be a little bit more in the Halloween spirit. This was being sold at QVC here for $24.99. I still haven't found a decent Halloween cover that would fit over our easy chairs, but I'll keep looking.

Halloween - October 27, 2011

Yes, something else that's cute. But they are monsters. And they could be scary. See, they are Windup Glow In the Dark Monsters. And here's what I'm thinking. Your victim comes home late at night. They open the front door and try to turn on the lights, but, nothing happens. So they walk in the house towards the kitchen to get a flashlight when whoa, 100 of these little glowing windup dolls come marching towards them! It could be scary. Maybe as they all chant braaaaains? Boooo? Dinner? Anyway, it works for me!

These Glow In the Dark Monster Windups can be found at Pier 1 here. They cost $4 each.

I think they could also work as cat toys....

Halloween - October 26, 2011

I think this is one of the coolest ideas ever. There is an artist out there named Lewis Barrett Lehrman who, if you send him a photo of your house, will paint it haunted! He will include family members, pets and anything else you think you want in your painting. In fact he says even if it's a house in your nightmares, he'll try to paint it for you.

He also has some very cool fine art prints in his online gallery. Trust me, I'm sure you'll find one you'll want to hang around your house during the Halloween holidays.

The website is called The Haunted Studio and you can check the Painter of the Darks gallery of haunts here.

Did I mention how much I love this idea? Seriously, if I've been to your house, I've been thinking of how this guy would paint it haunted!

Halloween - October 25, 2011

I never quite understood bobbing for apples. I mean, it was okay as a kid because it was an excuse to get wet and make a mess. But once I got past a certain age? Well, no way in hell was I going to mess my hair and makeup with that bobbing for apple water. And yuck, who knew what snot got left behind while some kid dunked his entire head (what if he had lice!) into that tub of water? Shudder.

But trust Martha Stewart to bring Bobbing for Apples to a whole new level. You see she made the apples into these cute little ghoulish heads and she's floating them in this brackish water and...wait...you don't bob for these apples? That liquid isn't just dirty water it's full of rum? Out of my way people, make-up and hairdo be damned, lemmy in that tub!!!

Seriously, Martha makes a nice mixture of apples, apple cider, lemonade concentrate and rum and turns it into a Halloween Shrunken Heads in Cider treat. For the recipe go here.

Thank Martha Stewart to bring me a Halloween idea I can get behind. And thankfully no make-up or hair will be hurt in the process.

 

Halloween - October 24, 2011

I remember years ago buying Halloween makeup to do a face for Halloween. I went as a dead bride. Pretty much the only makeup you could find at department and dime stores back then was the cheap stuff that was usually a very vivid shade of orange. And black. You could always find black.

But I wasn't just going as a dead bride by painting my face white and adding some black circles around my eyes. No, the folks I was going out to Halloween parties with were into horror movies and they had amassed many books on horror movie makeup. And we needed special (read expensive) type colors (many shades of gray along with black and white) to get the desired dimensional dead persons face effect (those in the know understand cotton, corn syrup and a blow dryer). I admit the effect was pretty spectacular, even if having to find a place that sold movie make-up took a bit of time (and to you kids who just cocked your head in that "huh" kind of way, this was before the internet so no, it really wasn't that easy) and buying a ton of makeup that was only used on Halloween wasn't exactly cost effective.

These days, even some of your standard Halloween shops carry some pretty decent makeup to transform your face into whatever ghoulish creature you care to be. But alas, unless you are, ahem, different, that makeup pretty much only comes out once or twice a year. You wear it to whatever Halloween party your neighborhood has, you put on the makeup to scare the kids that knock on your door on Halloween, or you paint your face to try to win best costume at your place of employment.

The problem is, for some jobs it's either just not practical or you're not allowed to wear costumes to work on  Halloween. Fireman, policeman, airline pilots. I happen to work in a profession where it is just not cool to wear costumes to work. But the fact that halloween is my favorite holiday makes me want to participate on some level so wearing a bit of this Tarte for True Blood blush will have to do. My own little secret homage to my favorite holiday. Well outwardly anyway. I'm still looking for that orange pumpkin bra to wear on Halloween under my work clothes!

Tarte for True Blood is a limited edition cheek stain inspired by the HBO True Blood series. It's not cheap at $30 but you could actually use it year round. You can find it at Sephora.com here.

 

Halloween - October 23, 2011

Meatloaf Baby.

 

There. Are. No. Words.....

Halloween - October 22, 2011

I think my Halloween license might be revoked after this. Cuz this is more on the cute sexy side than the dark scary ghoul side. But...I have always had a soft spot for former Hugh Hefner girlfriend and The Girls Next Door reality star Bridget Marquardt. Besides, she really is a fan of Halloween and has appeared in a (very low budget) Halloween movie.

I adore this costume. Of course not on my body, ahem, but I do love the color and am just glad that it's not the standard sexy witch, sexy nurse, sexy schoolgirl, sexy cat or sexy maid that adult women usually wear!

You can find this costume and many others that come under the "Bridget by Roma" costume line here.

Cheddar-Corn Spoonbread

 

I've never actually made any sort of spoonbread before. I've always worried about whipping up egg whites.  In other recipes I've either not whipped them enough or over whipped them which has effected the outcome. Anything close to a souffle has also always been put in the same category of things I'm afraid to do...like work with yeast or make anything that requires a candy thermometer. I figured this was a good recipe to get me closer to doing one of those cooking things I'm afraid of.

This recipe came from the Everyday Food Special Summer Magazine August 2011 (large format issue).I actually made this last August when corn around here was in season and you could find it at your local Farmers Market. I used the corn that came with our CSA. Though I did like the dish it was just 'okay'. To me it seemed to lack any real cheesy flavor. We had some white cheddar that I bought special for this dish but it had a very mild flavor which I think was the main problem. Next time I will probably buy a better white cheddar.

Though Mr. L thought there was plenty of corn taste in this, I didn't think the corn was sweet enough.
We have since canceled our CSA as most of the fruits and vegetables we got from them seemed very tired and worn when we got them. I'm thinking this would taste a lot better with fresher corn.

Though we did enjoy the Cheddar-Corn Spoonbread I felt this recipe could have been so much better than the final result. This is one of those recipes that I believe is only as good as the ingredients you put in. Definitely a better cheese and fresher corn next time.

But, even though this didn't come out perfect? The leftovers? Ahem, Try frying them. Just a quick fry in a little bit of oil. Totally works. Not that we would do anything so decadent....

CHEDDAR-CORN SPOONBREAD
(Everyday Food)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups corn kernels (from 2 ears)
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
coarse salt
cayenne pepper
3 ounces sharp white cheddar, finely grated (1 cup)
4 large eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 2-quart baking dish. In a large saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of cayenne. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture is slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cheese. Let cool just until warm to the touch, 15 minutes. Stir in egg yolks until combined.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and pinch of salt on high until soft peaks form. Witha rubber spatula, stir one-third the whites into corn mixture until combined, then gently fold in remaining whites. Pour into dish.

Place dish in oven, reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake until browned on top and slightly loose in center, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Serves 6 at 276 calories a serving.

Note: I'm sure one could use thawed frozen corn when fresh corn isn't in season.

Again, this just needed a slight punch up in flavor...fresher corn or a sharper cheese...to elevate the recipe to perfection. And though it might seem a bit complicated for a novice, it was actually pretty simple to put together.