Well… it’s Halloween and I didn’t buy a dang pumpkin!  This is the first year in forever that I haven’t picked a few out for my front steps.  I don’t know what happened, but time slipped away from me.  I was on the Plains this weekend and checked out these pumpkins, which are always a highlight of fall on campus.

My friend in Birmingham Meagan didn’t send the photo below to me, but emails travel fast and I was super impressed by her OWL CUPCAKES!  Great work Meagan, and happy OWL-OWEEN back at cha!

            

My Mississippi Friends (Laura & Katie "mini-Marthas") have a festive Halloween Party every year!  I asked them to send me their party details… so without further adieu:

HOW TO THROW A KILLER HALLOWEEN SOIREE!! – Katie & Laura Style

I love Halloween!  What other day of the year gives would-be adults permission to wear a costume and brings communities together for silly games and free candy?  Maybe I never outgrew playing dress up, or maybe it’s the thrill of a good scary story, but Halloween is just too much fun!

For my friend Katie and me, one of the highlights of fall has been hosting a Halloween costume party.  Sadly, for a myriad of reasons, there will be no party this year.  However, in it’s place, I’d like to share some of our tips for decorating and entertaining on All Hallow’s Eve.

                         

                               

The Setting:

Try to keep your décor as realistic as possible.  Your home should look like a creepier, more haunted version of itself, not look like the Halloween aisle at Target.  All you really need to make you abode a little more macabre are some old sheets, store-bought spider webs, and lots of candles. 

·         Cover your furniture with sheets to give your home that “abandoned” look.  Old white sheets and tablecloths found at a thrift store work beautifully for the “aged” coloring 

·         Drape spider webs (and a few spiders) everywhere – on mirrors, in your chandelier, in doorways – anywhere.  The trick it to stretch it until it can’t be stretched anymore.  It drives me batty to see a big cotton-candy poof where a spooky spider web should be.

·         Light up your rooms with tapers dripping from candelabras, lanterns, and carved pumpkins  (marthastewartliving.com has some fabulous designs). 

·         To give your guests a chill as they drive up, paint the silhouette of a man in black on a white sheet and hang it in a window.

·         Complete the mood with music.  Play your own flavor of music, just create a playlist that’s ties in with the occasion.  I’ve listed some from a variety of genres below, but there are many more out there.   I like to choose a word associated with Halloween, say “witch” and use that to search for songs online.

                               

The Food:

Great Halloween party recipes are bountiful on the internet.  And, with a little creative labeling, and maybe a drop of food coloring, your everyday dishes could become Halloween feast to die for.

·         Cheese ring recipes can easily be molded into the shape of a skull, a hand, a spider, a pumpkin, or even a rat!

·         A sandwich even becomes sinister when labeled “sand-witch.”

·         Serve anything with garlic to keep the vampires away.

·         Serving a meat dish? Label it “bat.”

Here are two of my favorites from marthastewartliving.com

                            

Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds

I like to set these around the room for easy snacking.

Makes 1 cup.

• 1 medium pumpkin
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut pumpkin open from the bottom, removing seeds with a long-handled spoon. Separate flesh from seeds, and reserve the flesh for another use (pumpkin pie, maybe). A medium pumpkin should yield 1cup seeds. Spread seeds on parchment in an even layer. Bake until dry, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Let cool.
2. In a medium bowl combine 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne. Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add pumpkin seeds and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Cook until sugar melts and pumpkin seeds begin to caramelize, about 45 to 60 seconds. Transfer to bowl with spices, and stir well to coat. Let cool. These may be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

                                 

Potato-Leek Soup

Label this one “Shoo Vampire Soup” because of all of the garlic.  For a nice touch, use small Halloween cookie cutters on some slices of pumpernickel, toast, and use to garnish each bowl of soup.

Serves 6 to 8.

• 2 dried bay leaves
• 6 sprigs fresh rosemary, or 2 teaspoons crushed dried rosemary
• 4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 6 leeks, white parts only, washed well, thinly sliced
• 4 shallots, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 pounds

  Yukon

  gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

• 8 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Make a bouquet garni: First wrap bay leaves, rosemary, parsley, and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth. Then tie with a piece of kitchen twine, and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil and butter in a medium stockpot. Add celery, leeks, shallots, and garlic; cook on medium-low heat until very soft, about 45 minutes, stirring only occasionally. Do not brown. Add potatoes, stock, and reserved bouquet garni. Bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook until potatoes are very tender, about 40 minutes. Remove bouquet garni, and discard.
3. Working in batches, pass half of the soup through a food mill, fitted with a medium disk, into a large saucepan. Add remaining chunky soup. Place the saucepan on medium-low heat to warm soup. Slowly stir in milk and cream, and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

                   

Music List

Addams Family – TV Show Theme Song

Addams Grve – MC Hammar

All You Zombies – Hters

A Nightmare On My Street – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Apeman – Kinks

Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman – Tubes

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes – Lewis Lee

Babylon- Dr. John The Night Tripper

Bad Mn Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Black Magic Woman – Santana

Boris the Spider –The Who

Clap For The Wolfman – Guess Who

Creature From The Black Lagn – Dave Edmunds

Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd

Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo

Devil In A Bottle – T.G. Sheppard

Devil In A Fast Car – Sheena Easton

Devil In Disguise – Elvis Presley

Devil Made Me Do It – Golden Earring

Devil Or Angel – Bobby Vee

Devil Went Down To Georgia – Charlie Daniels Band

Devil With A Blue Dress On – Mitch Ryder

Devil Woman – Marty Robbins

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead – Fifth Estate

Dinner With Drac – John Zachak

Dragula – Rob Zombie

Eaten Alive – Diana Ross

Evil – Earth Wind & Fire

Evil Woman – Electric Light Orchestra

Evil Ways – Santana

Exorist Theme – Tubular Bells

Eye Of The Zombie – John Fogerty

Flying Saucer – Buchanan & Goodman

Frankenstein – Edgar Winter

Ghostbuster – Ray Parker Jr.

Ghost Riders In The Sky – Johnny Cash

Haunted House – Jumping Gene Simmons

I Go Ape – Neil Sedaka

In A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly

I Put A Spell On You – Sceaming Jay Hawkins

I Was A Teenage Werewolf – The Cramps

Let’s Go Crazy – Prince

Lil Red Riding Hood –Sam the Sham

Lucifer – Bob Seger

Martian Boogie – Brownsville Station

Men In Black – Will Smith

Monster – Steppenwolf

Monster Mash – Bobby "Boris" PicketMonster’s

Holiday- Bobby "Boris" Picket

My B – Ghost Town DJs

Nature Trail To Hell – Weird Al Yankovic

Pay The Devil – Knack

Psycho – Bobby Hendricks

Psycho Killer – Talking Heads

Psychobabble – Alan Parsons Project

Psychotic Reaction – Count Five

Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley

Scream Till You Drop – Royal Tones

Season Of The Witch – Donovan

Season Of The Witch – Vanilla Fudge

Spiderwebs – No Doubt

Spooky – Classic IV

Sweet Dreams – Marilyn Manson

Sympathy For The Devil – Rolling Stones

The Blob – The Five Blobs

The Creature – Buchanan & Goodman

The Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Witch – Rattles

There Coming To Take Me Away – Napolean XIV

Thriller – Michael Jackson

Twilight Zone – TV Show Theme Song

Vd Woman – Bobby Goldsboro

Welcome To My Nightmare – Alice Cper

Werewolves Of London- Warren Zevon

Where Evil Grows – Poppy Family

Witch Doctor – David Seville

Witch Queen Of New Orleans- Redbone

Witchcraft – Frank Sinatra

Witchy Woman – Eagles

You’re The Devil In Disguise – Elvis Presley