Blogtoberfest – Recipes – Cinnamon Sugar Spider Webs

Total Time: 40 min

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 30 min

Yield: about 30 webs

Ingredients

Vegetable oil, for frying
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon maple syrup, plus 1/4 cup for brushing
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
Jelly spiders, orange or black nonpareils, for garnish, optional

Directions

Pour enough oil in a large skillet so it’s about 1 inch deep. Heat oil over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers between 280 to 300 degree F.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center; add the milk, egg, and 1 tablespoon maple syrup. Whisk the dry and wet ingredients together until smooth.

Transfer batter into a large size pastry bag with a # 3 or 4 open tip. Carefully squeeze batter in a circular pattern and then back and forth into the oil, to make a free form spider web-like design, about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Cook until bottoms are golden, about 2 minutes. Using tongs or slotted spoon, turn fritters over and cook until golden on other side, about 1 minute more. Transfer the fritters to paper towels to drain briefly. Brush lightly with maple syrup and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve warm or at room temperature alone or with the garnishes.

*You may use a zip bag instead of a pastry bag. Snip a corner to the appropriate size and you’re good.

Courtesy of the Food Network

Blogtoberfest – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

In another life, I was an elementary school teacher, which meant nearly every holiday was a par-tay. Valentine’s Day parties were the most stressful, because, as a teacher, you really had to sit on the “who likes whom” bit and keep it all nice and friendly. Christmas was nice, but the overabundance of cookies was a little much. The party that hit the perfect spot (besides the end of school party) was Halloween.

Between the Halloween-themed worksheets, coloring sheets, Halloween parade and Charlie Brown, the whole day was a whirlwind of costumes and candy. The best part for me, and I hope the class, was when I read from Scary Stories to Read in the Dark. First of all, take a look at this cover. It’s the stuff of nightmares, sorry. I’d keep the book face down on the desk if I had a softcover, and remove the dustjacket if I were using a hardcover that year.

Note. Yes, I do write about zombies, but only before 2 pm. I’ll tell you a little story – when I was editing Loving Among the Dead, my first zombie book, I stayed up late at night, making sure everything was super scary and ended up giving myself nightmares! So now, yeah, early afternoon is as far as I”ll go with working, watching or reading scary stuff!

Back to the the main story. There is a story in the book called “The Big Toe” and it ends with a jump scare. The story goes like this: A boy digs in the garden and finds a big toe. He takes it to his father and the father cuts the toe up into three pieces so the family can have something to eat. Later in the evening, a voice comes ’round saying “Who’s got my toooooooe? Who’s got my tooooooooe?”

I would walk around the classroom repeating Who’s got my toooooooe? in a spooky voice until I jumped at one child and yell: “YOU’VE GOT IT!” The resounding screams, well, now I know a little of how satisfied Alfred Hitchcock felt when audience screamed during the shower scene in Psycho.

So, pick up the book. There are three of them, but the first one has the best stories and weirdest drawings. Like this one:

scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-3 — She cut off her nose to….SPIDERFACE!!!

Pleasant dreams!

Five Characters I'd Love to be for Halloween

Here we are again for the Five Fandom Friday link up! I must say I am enjoying these little trips every week.

Let’s get right to the chase, shall we? Here they are in no particular order.

Captain Jack Sparrow – Pirates of the Caribbean movies

How much fun would it be to be a pirate (in the movie world, of course, forget the killing and the shooting and the scurvy and terrible food). I loved the Pirate movies and remember the ride as a child at Disney World. The long coat, the beads and shoot, there’s even a purse! What’s not to like about this?

Akasha, Queen of the Damned

Just because… Aaliyah. What an awesome costume. Nuff said.

Steampunk-ish Victorian

Black Victorian 2 — Image from http://www.vintag.es/2013/03/victorian-era-portraits-of-african.html

Fannie Hendricks, Wisconsin Historical Society

All I would need is to add a pair of goggles and an umbrella!

Poison Ivy

Yeah, so maybe she’s a little too gung-ho about plants and the environment, but a grrl’s gotta have a hobby right? And you can never have too many plants or loads of gorgeous red hair.

GoGo Yubari

She was the best thing about the Kill Bill movies….all of them.

You can beg better than that!

Thanks for reading! I had a great time picking out my virtual costumes.

Dahlia

Halloween Recipe – Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas

Easy-Peasy, guys and dolls. These tasty roasted vegetable quesadillas are a great finger food for your Halloween gathering. I know, there’s no meat in them, but trust me, they’re good…and I am a gal who can sink her teeth in a steak.

Do NOT use canned corn. It will give your dish a weird, canned taste. Take it from me.

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min. 12 Servings

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 tomato flour tortillas (10 inches)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend
Guacamole, sour cream, salsa and sliced ripe olives, optional

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the vegetables, oil and cumin; toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer in an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 425° for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Reduce heat to 350°.
Divide vegetable mixture evenly between two tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese. Top with remaining tortillas. Place on an ungreased baking sheet; bake for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Cut each quesadilla into six wedges. Garnish with guacamole, sour cream, salsa and olives if desired.
Yield:1 dozen.

Halloween Music – The Classical Edition

Ah, it’s getting closer, isn’t it? My little ones’ costumes have arrived (via UPS, dahlings…Dahlia despises retail shopping and who would give up a chance to see the kinda hot UPS man dropping off a package?) and the candy corn is in the house. A chill is in the air and Blogtoberfest continues. Y’all still with me, I hope, because this is testing me to the limits. Blogging every day? Yikes! But it’s been 13 days and so far so good.

I’ve got on my big headphones today, you know the ones, and I’m sending you some intellectually spooky tunes to create the perfect background for you and your Halloween celebrations. Whether it’s playing in the background or you are actively listening, these pieces are sure to raise the hair on the back of your neck.

Shall we begin?

Franz Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on “B-A-C-H”…..no not that Bach:

In music, the BACH motif is the motif, a succession of notes important or characteristic to a piece, B flat, A, C, B natural. In German musical nomenclature, in which the note B natural is written as H and the B flat as B, it forms Johann Sebastian Bach‘s family name. (from Wikipedia)

GYÖRGY LIGETI – Volumina – Pieces of his music were used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This such a classic, I couldn’t ignore it:

Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Another classic –

Mussorsky – Night on Bald Mountain

Last, but not least, one of my favorites…the trilling flutes, the ominous lower reeds and the muted brass give you the chill you desire…and don’t forget all those creepy broomsticks.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (HD)

Boo!

Dahlia