NaBloPoMo ~ Let the madness begin!

Clearly at our house we don't have a problem letting the madness in. Check out Punky, this year's fabulous pumpkin! The antennae are still cracking me up! Who knew what you can create with orange bell peppers!

Now, it is a little weird starting off November's NaBloPoMo with what happened on October 31, but we had such a good time I want to celebrate it. Dinner turned out absolutely scrumptious. We made this fantastic parsnip twigs that are made by wrapping deliciously browned pieces of parsnip in 2 sheets of filo pastry, between which has been layered parmesan and cayenee. Ooooh, yum. Earthy and delicious. And mushroom risotto - whoa, I've never made it before and I can tell you I'll be making it many, many times because it's a real comfort food treat!

And one of the cool things about Halloween is that you never know what you'll see. I mean who knew there were dragons living in Toronto? But I've got the pics to prove it. You saw it here first!

And Halloween would not be complete without indulging in scary movies. We carved Punky and cooked while watching Constantine, which seems to be becoming a tradition. (Yes, in my family if you do it twice and liked it both times, that's a tradition!) And then we watched Cabin Fever, um, which was actually better than I expected. And finished off with The Reaping. I do have to say that I'm the scaredy cat and there's a fair amount of movies that are uh-oh, no-way, for me. But luckily last night they were a good mix.

Shannon, Justin and I had a fantastic night. It's over 10 years that we've been celebrating together. And we were able to connect with Suzie too because we especially miss her on nights like this.

Here's hoping you had a boo-tiful Halloween.

Halloween & NaBloPoMo

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is such a wonderful day at our house. We regularly take it off of work so that we can spend the day preparing and feasting and later, watching scary movies. This tradition started when Justin and I first started dating and I lived with Shannon. Our first Halloween all together we made it really special with a yummy dinner and our infamous jack-o-lantern, "the eye." (Yes, it really was a big eye) We had such a good time that we kept the tradition going.

I've been really busy, so we're a bit behind in the planning but hopefully we'll catch up today and have a magnificent time. Yesterday we did manage to clean and get our decorations up though we still have to put pumpkin lights in the window. (If you want to see amazing decorations, check out Suzie's slideshow)

Justin and I are heading out shopping for a pumpkin, candy, ingredients, wine and movies. I get psyched about cooking a fabulous meal that feels harvesty and also that's often something we haven't made before. Tonight we're having:

• Shannon's unbeatable stuffed mushrooms
• Parsnip twigs
• Mushroom risotto
• Steak
• Apple Galette with Parmesan Crust* Last minute substitution. In looking closely at these recipes we're already getting a lot of Parmesan. So instead we'll be having a Pear & Cranberry Crisp.

All of the recipes are new, so wish us luck! Hopefully it will all be tasty. In the midst of our enjoying all that we have in the last harvest of the year, we'll be thinking of what we want to leave behind us. We'll be thinking of those we've lost, especially in the past year. And we'll be getting ready for the new season.

What are you doing for Halloween?

And starting tomorrow: NaBloPoMo


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And as of tomorrow, I'll be posting every day in November for NaBloPoMo. There's still time to join in the fun! I've even created a group for Creative Bloggers, and you know that's you! Dive in and join the excitement.

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