Okay, so I'm a tad overdue with this post. Hopefully something Halloween related will even be semi-interesting at this point. Personally for me, it's not. And truth be told, I am so HAPPY that Halloween is over!! Between all of my neighbors, and my own husband, who spent the entire month trying to out-do one another with crazy yard props (David actually built a coffin and a crypt, complete with PVC pipe running through them attached to a fog machine), the yuckiness of another birthday (mine), and Halloween candy...yeah, so glad it's done.
But the weekend was still a fun one. My pumpkin carving party, which took place on October 29th, was a hit with my neighbors. The weather was very cool and fall-like, so it was nice to gather outdoors and do something together. Well, kind of outdoors. We set tables up inside our garage. I was a little worried about pumpkin guts ending up all over the driveway...
As you can see, there are no small children in these pictures. Trust me, they were there, for all of about 15 minutes before they all decided that carving was too much work and it was best left to the adults to handle. Instead, they played together out in the yard. Oh well. The adults enjoyed it nonetheless.
I cannot believe that somehow we managed to finish this day without a photo of everyone's pumpkins lined up. I never claimed to be organized--on the contrary, I am the most UNorganized person there is, and this basically proves it! My plan was to have everybody vote on their favorite pumpkin. The winner, which turned out to be my nephew Russell for his awesome graveyard pumpkin, won the coveted Pez-dispenser door prize.
Afterwards, everyone was treated to some homemade cupcakes, brownies, and fudge. The brownies, while delicious, turned out hideous looking due to my lack of artistry. The top was covered in a snowy white layer of marshmallow fluff, and was then supposed to have spiderwebs piped on in chocolate. As I was attempting this, I realized I hadn't a clue what I was doing and my webs ended up looking more like a Jackson Pollack painting. They were still yummy though! The fudge was DIVINE and had a top layer of white chocolate with orange extract and orange food coloring added. It was quite beautiful to look at it, and once again, I managed to not get a photo of it. (Sigh) I suck.
The cupcakes were pretty straight forward and simple. Cupcakes + frosting + food coloring + black piping + toothpicks = Halloween cupcakes. I had a little trouble on some of them. The black piping didn't always want to cooperate, so some ended up with thicker lines than others. Also, when running the toothpick through them to create the web effect, they didn't have that soft, elastic texture I was looking for to cut through them like butter. The toothpick would cut through and basically slice it rather than pull it and meld it into the orange frosting. So in the end, some turned out very well and some others, err...not so well. I haven't taken a cake class in almost a year, and my rustiness rang through loud and clear. But again, they still tasted good!
Later that evening, we, along with my some of our neighbors who attended the pumpkin carving, all bundled up and went to the Spooktacular event at the Jacksonville Zoo. It was cold outside! Really it's an event for the kids--they hand out candy and kids wear their costumes--but it's nice to have an opportunity to go somewhere and walk around when it's chilly outside. In Florida, winter comes and goes so quickly that we have to take advantage of these things. It was really crowded at Spooktacular--I mean really, really crowded--but it was still fun. My neighbor's daughter Teagan stayed permanently attached to my side the entire time, so I made sure she got a clear shot every time we spotted a candy station. I always try to do my part for the little people...
This is me and David at Spooktacular. He has a beard this fall!
I'll leave you with David's very scary looking "It" Pennywise the clown pumpkin that we put in the yard Halloween night. David is a fan of shaving pumpkins rather than carving. Creeeepy....
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