Pumpkin Bars

Happy Halloween, out there is blog land!  I hope everyone is ready for a fabulous holiday.  I have been roasting pumpkin seeds and baking pumpkin bars and watching Anchorman (one on my all time favorite movies).  OK, I also watched The Strangers and I am Number Four this weekend, so I am trying to keep the creep factor high.  Plus, American Horror Story was amazing Wednesday night (here's to the hope that Direct TV will work out a deal with FX, so I don't lose this show).  Is it really almost time to decorate for Christmas already?

In the spirit of the holiday, I decided it was time to try my hand at some pumpkin bars.  I found this recipe, by the fabulous and butter happy Paula Deen, so I knew it would be a hit instantly.  They were easy to make and delicious to taste.  Plus, there was a ridiculous amount of cream cheese icing involved, which makes any cake-like food taste amazing.  Now I just need a holiday cocktail to top off the evening:)  Anyone have a good recipe?

Is there anything special you are making for the holiday?  I would love to hear about it.  It doesn't have to have anything to do with pumpkin:)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.’

I read Pride and Prejudice in high school, and I absolutely loved it.  If you haven't read the original, I highly recommend adding it to your winter reading list.  In its most basic form, this is a love story.  A  love story complicated by the interloping of others and the pride and prejudices commonly held in early 19th century England.  OK, maybe I am not selling the original for all the glory that it actually represents, but throw in some zombie mayhem, and what do you have? 

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a reworking of the original classic, with the addition of gore, brain eating, ninjas, and katana swords (that is the untraviolent zombie mayhem).  Here, Elizabeth and Jane and the rest of the Bennet girls are trained in the art of zombie warfare  They are as adept in the martial arts as they are in navigating the rigors of proper English society.  There are some humorous parts, especially the subplot revolving around Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte's, decline into zombiedom.  

Overall, I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  I do love the original story, and I also love zombies, but I didn't really love the two of them together.  I was very curious about this book though, so I am happy that I read it.  I do like the general idea.  I know I said my next book was the Jaycee Dugard story, and I did finish it.  I will give you an update on that next week.  I had to get this one out for Halloween:)

Have you read the original or this remake?  Are you interested in either?  Do you like classic novels?  Which was your favorite?

Creepy TV

I don't think I could host Halloween week with talking about two of my favorite tv shows that are, well, creepy.  I have always been a fan of scary movies, from the time I was little.  The kind of fan where watching  certain scenes in certain movies required my viewing through the spaces between my fingers, and turning on every light in the house and looking inside all of our closets once it was over.  Recently, I have been watching a couple of tv shows that make me check for toy clowns under the bed before I go to sleep (and I have to make sure you know about them too).  

American Horror Story:  A family moves from Boston to Los Angeles to try to rebuild their lives after a series of unfortunate events.  They buy an old house that, unbeknownst to them, has a gruesome history of murders.  There are lots of spooky characters and mysteries introduced in the first episode.  This show is probably not for you if you do not like the horror genre and/or seeing Dylan McDermott's bare bottom.  I am personally a fan of both.  I have attached the trailer below (sans nudity).

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The Walking Dead:  The zombie apocalypse has happened.  A group of unaffected people are traveling across the country, trying to find a cure and a life without the constant threat of having their brains eaten.  The show is gruesome, but hey, we are dealing with zombies here (and would you have it any other way?).  I have attached a trailer for your viewing pleasure below.  

Do you watcher either of these shows?  Do you like to watch scary movies and tv shows?   Have you ever slept with the lights on afterwards?  What are your favorites (I love recommendations)?

This Is Halloween (on the inside)

We love decorating the inside of our house almost as much as much as the outside.  I showed you a few of our inside decorations in this post.  Here is a peek at the rest.

I love my monsters.  Target had them a few years ago, and I scooped up everything I could find.  

This is my entryway.  I hung the witch where I usually hang my mistletoe.  

I have this in my entryway as well.  It made me laugh the first time I saw it.

You can't tell from this picture, but he lights up.

One of my favorite new additions this year.  I love sparkly things.

Of course, I have a Halloween pug.

Some of this works as my Thanksgiving decor too.

I bought the votive pictured on the left here, not knowing it was part of a set.  When I found the one on the right, I realized it was hear/see/speak no evil.  I then drove around to 6 other stores trying to find hear no evil, but to no avail.  I am still obsessed with finding it.

The Farmers Market candle smells exactly like autumn.

I keep the stunning glass pumpkin on display year round.  

This is my mantle from a distance.  

Here are some close-up shots.  The pirate ship is animated (and you know how much I love pirates).  

The house lights up inside.

 Do you decorate the inside of your house?  I still wanna see some pictures:)  

This Is Halloween (on the outside)

Husband and I love to decorate for Halloween, and we go all out.  Every year we add a few more things, and frankly, we are starting to run out of places to store them.  There is a neighborhood competition that we have never actually won, but keep trying to compete in anyway.  Have I mentioned that we are very competitive?. 

The beginning of Halloween in our house always starts out a bit like this.

 We mark the boundaries of our yard with a skull fence.

  This is what it looks like at night.  

 Of course, the pirate flag is mandatory.  

A view of our front yard.  It is really hard to show you in pictures what the set up is actually like.  It looks much better in the dark, when all of the lights are on, the fogs machines are blowing, and you can see and hear everything.  I am going to try to take a short video on my phone the night of Halloween, and I will post it here if it turns out at least semi-watchable.  

I do believe that our happy little mailbox may be a bit too cheerful for the entryway.  Maybe it needs spiderwebs and a (plastic) spider or two. 

Are you crazy about decorating too?  I would love to see your pictures.  I should also mention that we must get at least 100 trick-or-treaters Halloween night.  It is a lot of fun.  Sometimes the children even get too scared to walk up our driveway alone.  Yeah, we have an animatronic spider that drops on the parents.  The reaction is priceless:)

How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds

Welcome to Halloween Week (one of my aforementioned favorite times of the year).  Today, I am going going to start with the most basic of Halloween related activities, roasting pumpkin seeds.  If you have never done it before, I assure you that it is simple to do and worth the little bit of effort that involves getting pumpkin slime on your fingers.  This recipe will take you through the steps that I have pictured below.  

First of all, pick a nice pumpkin that you will want to carve later.  Important lesson learned today: do not try to use a big bladed knife here (like a chef's knife).  Smaller and serrated work best.  

The lid you cut out doesn't need to be perfectly round.  Little imperfections add character, right?  Scoop out all of the pumpkin innards.  

You will have a pile of seeds and pumpkin slime you will need to pick through.

After you have picked out the pumpkin guts, rinse with water in a colander.

Prepare the roasting pan with a layer of olive oil and then lay the seeds out flat in a single layer.  Bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees F to dry the seeds out.

Toss in olive oil and the seasoning of your choice (I used salt and granulated garlic here).  Bake for another 20 minutes to roast.  

Put in bowl for snacking during football.  Hand to husband.  Quickly realize that you should have portioned them out if you want to get your share:)  Enjoy!