More Halloween Fun

Here's an article I wrote some time ago... and yes, I've found the candle basket pics!
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Halloween is taken very seriously here. To most people, this fun holiday might be about candy, costumes, and parties, but for me it's much more. The entire fall season is special, as are many of its aspects: The harvest, the exciting weather changes, beautiful displays of foliage, cold-weather treats, crisp cold air, costume excitement, edible seasonal treats, fun fall crafts, apple picking, pumpkin carving, cider brewing, leisurely strolls in an autumn-frosted cemetery. So many wonderful joys about throughout the season. The first day of fall always heralds great excitement for me, and with it comes my annual vow not to waste a single day. This year, so far, I haven't!

One of the ideas I had this year was to buy one pumpkin each week. (So far I'm on my third pumpkin.) Last week's became a whimsical yet simple emoticon-themed jack o' lantern (emoti-lantern?) It turned out cute, but it was really easy to do. I am NOT a very skillled jack o' lantern artist, so simple designs are usually my safest bet. This year, though, I'm going to "graduate" to more intricate designs as fall wears on. I'd highly recommend trying a jack o' lantern with your favorite emoticon if you're artistically-challenged like me!


My second pumpkin (this week's) was my version of a candle-lantern -- kind of a pumpkin candle basket. It's simply a hollowed-out pumpkin which has had a larg hole cut out of both sides.  The top was left intact so that I could easily pick it up and move it wherever I liked. Inside the pumpkin shell, I put in a large black candle and surrounded it with tealights. It's another easy project that even the least artistically skilled among us can do... and, to me at least, the smell of lightly scorching pumpkin is a festive one indeed. :)


Of course, one of the fringe benefits of pumpkin carving is the yummy bounty of seeds! I got a great recipe from HalloweenKitchen.Com for "Sweet Spicy Pumpkin Seeds." I've changed it just a little for my tastes...

INGREDIENTS:
seeds from 1 medium-sized pumpkin
2 teaspoons olive oil
3-4 drops tabasco sauce (just a hint of heat; you don't need a lot!)
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. De-gut the seeds, but don't wash them. Add olive oil and salt to the seeds; stir well. Then add all additional seasonings, and blend as thoroughly as possible. Place on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet and roast for about 20 minutes. (Check the seeds every 5-10 minutes and stir to ensure an even browning.) These will be VERY sticky, and they'll probably stick together a lot, but just do the best you can. After they're roasted to your liking, let them cool and, if you like, use your hands to break apart any seeds that have stuck together.

These seeds are SO good! I've done spiced pumpkin seeds a multitude of ways, but I really loved Wanda's recipe. My favorite part is the smoky cumin combined with the sweetness of the toasted sugar. It works so beautifully with the traditional fall seasonings here.

My next pumpkin-processing adventure is going to include the 30-pounder that I got yesterday! I'll keep everyone posted!

The Ghosts of Halloweens Past

Halloween tends to be one of my craftiest times of year!  But this year, well, a lot of shit happened, so I didn't get to be as domestically productive as I'd have liked.  Instead, I decided to reflect on some of the fun things I've done on previous Halloweens.  

One of the things I enjoy the most during this time of year is pumpkincrafting.  I love carving jack o' lanters, cooking pumpkins, making cakes, pies, and cookies out of yummy fall gourds -- as well as tasty savory dishes.  And let's not forget pumpkin seeds!  But the first matter of business is about carving the pumpkin.

Yeah, I know, this isn't a jack o' lantern in the traditional sense... it's a cucumber that I cut in half, carved an evil little face on, and backed up with a tea light.  However, I consider it one of the best jack o' lanterns I've ever done because it's so adorably sinister! ;)

Here's one of the more intricate jack o' lanterns that I've managed to do fairly well.  I highly recommend the carving kits and books by Pumpkin Masters -- they'll really help you master the pumpkin.  Even novices can churn out beautiful finished products in a relatively short time!  This spooky mask pattern was daunting to look at, but it actually turned out to be pretty easy.  Part of the eyebrow on the right side broke off during the carving, but I used a toothpick to put it back into place and no one was the wiser.

Another pattern by Pumpkin Masters.  This vampire theme was by far the easiest one in the book that year (which I believe was circa 2007), but it looked very dramatic with the lights dimmed.  The big open space in the pattern also made it really easy to add and position multiple candles.

Here's a winking emoticon from 2006 -- it's my own simple freehand design.

I'm still searching for a better shot of this "candle basket" that I made out of a pumpkin.  It was easy as hell; just cut out two sides of the pumpkin, scrap well, and fill with some candles.  It looked pretty and lasted longer than I thought it would.  I've heard that you're not supposed to consume old jack o' lanterns after candles have been burning inside them, but with this candle basket, I was able to cut enough pumpkin to cook for dinner that night.  So this one is both pretty and practical!

  

I also loooooove Halloween candy; I look forward to it all year!  These spooky marshmallow peeps imparted a really festive touch to an ordinary cup of hot chocolate.  Who can resist having an excuse to add extra marshmallows? ;)

Cemetery photography is a serious interest of mine.  As most of the images in this entry, this 2007 picture was taken with a crappy cell phone camera.  I wanted to share it because of thost gorgeous leaves... ahh, you can almost smell that crisp fall air!  

Fuzzband and I went to the 3-D theatre re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas one year -- I think it was 2006 -- and we had a blast.  I wish they would put it in theatres every year!  The theatre people painted a really cool "movie poster" in the theatre window.  This was the best picture I got on my old cell phone.

And of course, what Halloween would be complete without a mysterious black-furred familiar?  Here's mine... Seamus the bunny, getting his routine face cleaning!  (He had weepy eyes that needed our attention from time to time.)  He and his bunny wife, Aggie, lived with us from 2003 until their passing in 2009 (Aggie died at the end of June, and Seamus departed a month later).  Vets are estimated his age to be about 10 or 11 at the time; he had a multitude of illnesses, but he was a sweet and wonderful soul who brought so much love and joy into all our lives.  We adopted him and Aggie from New England's very own House Rabbit Network in 2003; he used to belong to a homeless woman.  Seamus was a noseless bunny with broken toes and bites in his ear -- but he was such a cool, mellow dude!  Seamus and Aggie are in my heart, and I still think of them and miss them every day.  This picture was taken in 2006; I'm sure I'll post better bunny pictures sometime though. :)