Halloween

I really wish I could say that it was the changing weather that helped put me in the mood for Halloween. Most days, though, have still been a bit on the way too warm side. We forged ahead anyhow with our Halloween preparations . . . mostly because it is just one more stop on the way to Christmas. (Yes, I have my calendar marked so I can tell you exactly how many more days until Christmas.) 

Since it has been so hot, I could not buy/carve my pumpkin too far in advance. This is the pumpkin that I agonized over choosing, based on the size, relative smoothness, and roundness of its face. I had the honor of scooping all of the guts out. by hand. This job, I later told my dad, was the worst part of my day - though I didn't complain at all while I was doing it. It took me two tries to draw the pumpkin face as cute as I wanted it to be. We could be brothers! 

Scooping the guts out was only made all the more challenging because my mom insisted that I remove every last seed so that we could roast them. We used a different recipe this year that happens to involve melted butter. (Note: up up up the amount of butter and salt.) These are the toastiest gems of buttery goodness that you could hope to eat.

At long last, it was Halloween night. We went trick-or-treating in a nearby neighborhood that has wide, safe, and brightly lit streets. I walked and walked for almost two hours.

This was my haul. I forgot to mention that I already had a mountain of candy (not shown) from the previous weekend when we went tick-or-treating at the Galleria Halloween party.

Basically, I only like Reese's. We have some baking projects planned for my excess candy of the non-Reese's variety.

To wrap up our Halloween celebrations, I baked a loaf of pumpkin bread yesterday.