Halloweening With Madame Spider

 A book of haunting poems . . .

Some apple cider donuts, and a mug of freshly pressed hot apple cider to ward off the chill in the air.  Madame Spider approves.

Halloween Musings

I'm posting some Halloween photos that I shared on Facebook throughout the month of October this year.  These are things that made me smile, remembering Halloweens past.  Perhaps because this was not a tradition that I grew up with, Halloween has always felt a little foreign to me, but I celebrated it when the kids were little, and this year, as I consider shutting down this blog permanently, I dug out what remains in our Halloween box, and took them out to play once more.

Here are my favorite goblins.  Creepy and Spooky have sat in just about every window ledge in the house, except my bedroom.  There's no telling what this couple of busybodies, would have to say about my face cream!

Brunhilda usually wants to hang out in the kitchen, but she's guarding the pumpkin pies she has in the oven.  No ghosts or goblins are going to get past her!

Fiona is once again fluttering about the chandelier.  Despite her Celtic ancestry, I consider her my emotional doppelgänger.  You see, Fiona doesn't travel light — and she always wears her pearls.

There were enough odds and ends in the Halloween box, that I decided to make a centerpiece out of them.  I keep thinking about investing in one of those tiered trays and creating a display, but I'm waiting to be convinced.  I'm very careful nowadays about what new things I bring into the house.

And then, the day was finally upon us . . .

So my mind turned to treats, of course!

With the boys at home, it was so easy to go overboard!

I decided to try something new this year:  Vanilla Pudding Shooters, with Oreo Cookies and Candy Corn.  The recipe called for using Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding.  But, I prefer my own Vanilla Custard.  I wish I had made them sooner!

This year, because of the pandemic, candy was distributed differently in our subdivision:  The treats were pre-packaged in recyclable bags, and placed on a table in the driveway, a few bags at a time, to encourage social distancing and safety.  It was a resounding success and we will probably do it the same way next year!

We are currently in the middle of what may the most important election of our lifetime, but I can't watch TV, or follow the news on social media.  It's not like watching a train wreck.  A train wreck is a detached event, where you feel sympathy for the victims, and are horrified by the damage, but you feel it in a removed sort of way.  The elections, however, impact all of us directly in so many ways, and I just can't be objective.  The anxiety is too real.  At this juncture, it appears that Joe Biden is leading in electoral votes, or so I've heard through co-workers, and that makes me happy, but it's too soon to know for sure, so I'm not tuning in to the news.  Now, that is some spooky stuff!

Nothing Gold Can Stay

                                                Nature’s first green is gold,
                                                Her hardest hue to hold.
                                                Her early leaf’s a flower;
                                                But only so an hour.
                                                Then leaf subsides to leaf.
                                                So Eden sank to grief,
                                                So dawn goes down to day.
                                                Nothing gold can stay. 

                                                                       — Robert Frost

A Shakespearean Halloween

A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

                Enter the three Witches.

  1 WITCH.  Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
  2 WITCH.  Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
  3 WITCH.  Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!

 

   

 1 WITCH.  Round about the caldron go;

  In the poison'd entrails throw.—

    Toad, that under cold stone,
    Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!

       ALL.  Double, double toil and trouble; 
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

      
2 WITCH.  Fillet of a fenny snake,
    In the caldron boil and bake; 

    Eye of newt,

 

and toe of frog,

 

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

 

    Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
    Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—

    For a charm of powerful trouble,
    Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 

       ALL.  Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

    3 WITCH.  Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
    Witches' mummy; maw and gulf 

 

  Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
    Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;



    Liver of blaspheming Jew;
    Gall of goat, and slips of yew
    Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;

   Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;

 
Finger of birth-strangled babe
    Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab: 

Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.      

ALL.  Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

       2 WITCH.  Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

—Act IV, Scene 1, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

The cast:

Witches Brew Linens and Salad Plates:  Pottery Barn Online
Black dinner plates:  The Dollar Tree
Water and wine glasses:  The Dollar Tree
Short candlesticks:  The Dollar Tree
Tall candlesticks:  Wedding gift from Marshall Field's, 30 years ago
Flatware:  Treble Clef by Gourmet Settings
Dessert glassware, candles:  Bed, Bath and Beyond
Black tablecloths:  Bed, Bath and Beyond
Mercury glass pumpkin and crow:  Pottery Barn
Mini salt and pepper shakers:  Crate and Barrel
Slate servers:  Crate and Barrel

I'm linking to the following parties:

Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Let's Dish at Cuisine Kathleen
 

Only treats . . . no tricks.

“Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold.”  —Judith Olney

Chocolate mini-cupcakes . . .

. . . with caramel frosting and a turtle crunch topping . . .

Pumpkin Pie . . .

No holiday would be complete in my children's eyes unless I made their favorite vanilla custard . . .

It's nice to have choices . . .

The Forbidden and The Fermented, for those of us trying to eat a little healthier . . .

And, of course, candy . . .

“Backward, turn backward,

O Time, in your flight,

Make me a child again

just for tonight!”

—Elizabeth Chase Allen

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Tea Bread Tuesday: Pumpkin Banana Bread

A favorite recipe in a fancy new mold . . . Ain't it purty?

Click here for the recipe:  Pumpkin Banana Bread.  I took it to work and it was gone in a flash!

I went to Williams-Sonoma to buy the pumpkin bread mold . . . and left with a set of Pumpkin Botanical Print Dish Towels that were simply irresistible.  Just keep me away from that store!

O.K.  I'm officially welcoming . . . Pumpkin Season!

Tea Bread Tuesday: Pumpkin Bread with Dates

Pumpkin bread baked in these cute pumpkin-like muffin tins . . . Unfortunately, I think I liked last week's Pumpkin-Banana Bread better.  There isn't a thing wrong with this bread, indeed, the dates almost melt in the dough, and make it a very moist bread, but the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of cloves and I'm discovering that I don't care for this spice a whole lot.  I should have halved the quantity, for my taste . . .  My DH concurs. 

I took them to the office and they disappeared.  I don't think this is so much a testament to my skill as it is to the fact that so many people lack the time to do any baking nowadays . . .

Here's the link for the recipe: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/pumpkin-bread-with-dates.html?cm_src=RECIPESEARCH\

Tea Bread Tuesday: Pumpkin-Banana Bread

Can you tell?

Can you tell, just by looking at it, the yumminess that awaits in every bite . . . ?

Moist, moist, moist!  Soooo delicious!  Here's the link:  http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/quickbreads/pumpkin-banana-bread/