Halloween Hodgepodge

Here's how we decorate our house for Halloween. We leave things in their place, never touching them ever, all year long, until spiders spin webs all around them. We leave them be, and, as calculated, we'll have the perfect display of spiderwebs just in time for Halloween.  It is totally intentional.

Sean and I went out for our anniversary to a French Caribbean restaurant down the street that was so fun & tasty. I LOVE little restaurants like this. Small, run by a husband and wife. Ah! The dream.  Anyway, I think the owner man was from the Caribbean and was also our waiter. He was pleased we cleaned every plate. But for the appetizer we had baked avocado that kind of blew our minds.  Baked avocado?? Why have i never thought of that??  The next day we went to a Halloween party and quickly concocted our version which turned out pretty stellar.

So we bought a gigantor avocado, mixed the innards in a bowl with sauteed onion and peppers and then seasoned with whatever.  I think we also mixed in some shredded parm.  Then we put it back in the shells and Sean laid out the mozzarella to depict the name i gave this dish:  Alien brains.  (I love halloween food)  They are downright terrifying.  Terrifyingly delicious, that is. 

Side view to see the shells.  It's just so brilliant. So brilliantly simple.

Baked in the oven for some-odd minutes at some-odd temp.  Perfection.

 (yes, i made a sign. notice the creepy writing)

Next time, since the mozzarella hardens a bit after it cools, i'd probably cut it up in smaller chunks that can more easily be scooped up with, say, a cracker.

Token baby photo:

And another:

For the chili & pie cookoff this year, being last year's victors, we felt no pressure to win but, as always in our everyday lives, to impress.  We made mini-apple pies. WITH LATTICE CRUST.

That's right. Ok, not all of them had lattice crust.  These 4 were our trial pies the night before. The next day we made more and I swear to you i worked on that miniature lattice for like a full HOUR. I thought i was going to die.  Ok, maybe 40 minutes. Still, standing over a stupid @#$% crust for 40 minutes can really make someone turn on pie crusts.  We don't have pictures of those but they were pretty glorious. Behold!

Ooooo!

Ahhh!

To show how itty bitty they were, and to also make you jealous as we partake.

Can't beat mini-pies.

And now it is time to reveal our costumes.  Ready?

Behold! Katniss & Peeta from The Hunger Games!! and Julian, the loaf of bread we ever-hunger for!!

 

Notice my long braid on fire. We put a blinky toy inside that paper. It was awesome.

Ok,so Sean made my bow and quiver of arrows.  That thing really works, people. I was scared.

*Sean Quote*

Sean and I started working on my weapons. After working on the arrow heads for a while, (the only part I had any help with) i got tired and started to read Catching Fire (book 2--i'm reading these aloud to Sean since he refuses to read fun fiction, so I have to read them to him, and he loves it.) (I had to do the same with Harry Potter and we had started this tradition BEFORE the last 2 books had come out. That's right. I had to read #6 and 7 OUTLOUD, not having read them myself yet.  HP fans will understand how painful this was, and also what an act of true love it is.) 

Anyway, working on the weapons, and  I paused to take a break and Sean, studying his bow, said in a serious tone,  

 "If i was trying to build a bow and arrow to defend my home, I'm not sure i'd do it any differently."

Ha ha.  Just makes me laugh. 

Also makes me laugh is this picture of Sean and me trying to be tough and hardened as the characters are, and then Julian clearly having a different idea. 

Also, Sean did the lettering on our shirts and my wounds. Excellent black eye.

Here is Katniss in action.  I wish i was her.

 p.s. want a good tip for scratches and wounds? lip liner. Draw it on, smudge it up a bit and presto!

Sean made my pin, which i thought i'd pinned on straight.

Lastly, tonight we made some more pies and gave some to the neighbors.  Mine is the demented one in the upper right corner.  So fun.  Love the jack o' pies, or as Sean said in a sort of slurred stutter, "jack o' pumpkin.. i mean, jack o' apples... or.. jack apple.."      jack o' pumpkin?? -- made me bust. 

Happy Halloween!  Best holiday everrrr!