I LOVE to dress up. Spence, however, is not big on costumes. At all. Last night he kept telling me, "THIS is how much I love you!"  Love you too, Sweetheart!!

Family Halloween party at our house last night.

L. deliberating with uncle Iain on how best to design her

Jack-o-lantern.

Doughnut eating contest sponsored by Aunt Jenn.  It's official.  Flandros have big mouths!  We won nearly every round.  So proud!  (Probably shouldn't be...)

And, food happenings around here the past week.  Even if you don't make a special food, it's so easy to just rename stuff.  A. and L. loved it, every night.  Salmon became fish flesh.  Tomato soup was blood slush.  Salad was swamp moss, etc. 

Mummy Dogs below:

Goblin grins:

Mummy pizzas:

Banana Boo Ghosts: 





Pumpkin pancakes:

Worms (mostly jello...love the realistic ridges!):

 Edible eyeballs:

We had a dinner in a pumpkin too.  I love that we were able to grow all of our pumpkins this year, though it does take up a lot of garden space.  Get to make my traditional Halloween Chili this year.  And I ALWAYS wear my witch hat and use my witchy voice when I make it.  Tastes better that way.

Halloween Chili

(You may find some of these ingredients hard to come by. Even the best-supplied kitchens occasionally run short of hawk toenails. And grubs and maggots are at times out of season. We've thought of some substitutions that may yield acceptable results. They're in parentheses.)

1/4 pound ground goblin gizzards (ground beef, 15% fat)

1 medium eye of Cyclops (onion)

1 15-ounce can soft-shelled beetles, drained--beetle juice is to be avoided (kidney beans)

1 28-ounce can blood of bat (V-8 juice)

1/8 teaspoon pureed wasp (prepared mustard)

1/4 teaspoon common dried weed (oregano)

1 dash Red-tailed hawk toenails (crushed red pepper)

2 teaspoon ground sumac blossom (chili powder)

1 teaspoon hemlock (honey or sugar)

1/2 cup fresh grubs (sliced celery)

Tablespoon eye of newt (pearl barley)

1 Tablespoon dried maggots (uncooked rice)

water from a stagnant pond, as needed (tap water) 

Best made during the last phase of the moon--if that is not possible, just do the best you can in a softly lighted kitchen after dark.

Brown the gizzards in an iron cauldron over a fire made from the siding off a haunted house. Add chopped eye of Cyclops and simmer until the pieces of eye become translucent. Add blood of bat and soft-shelled beetles; bring to a slow bubbling boil. At this time, add the common weed, maggots, toenails, sumac, grubs, hemlock, eye of newt, and pureed wasp.

As it cooks, you may want to adjust the consistency with the pond water. You can tell it is done when the eye of newt swells and the vertical, tan-colored "cat's eye" appears on one side.