This is Halloween... This is Halloween...

Wednesday 31 October 2012
As if I didn't have enough going on last week with my birthday adventures I was also invited to two fantastic Halloween parties. The first was the "Monster Mash Module Bash" held by BP to celebrate the module instalation on the Andrew north sea oil platform. The venue was The Forum and it had been spook-tacularly decked out for the occasion. Food was an informal hot buffet with lasagna, chilli, salad, garlic bread, nachos and soured cream.  Desert was by means of huge glass jars of trick and treat old style sweets. Great night out with fabulous entertainment from a Queen tribute band and plenty of freaky food, devilish drinks and amazing costumes.
The day after my 40th party my friend K hosted her annual Halloween Party. It was somewhat more of a subdued event that previous years due to the majority of the adult atendees suffering somewhat from the previous nights festivities. She really is the queen of Halloween decor and has amassed a host of ghoulish ideas over the years. The piece de resistance this year was the sight which met us in the bathroom.
Food wise we enjoyed fantastic butternut squash soup and crusty bread followed by a heaving table of spooky delights.  My favourite was the Vampire Snot Dip (Pampered Chef Hot Broccoli Dip) served with bat chips.  All you need for these are halloween cookie cutters, flour tortillas and oil.  Cut, brush with oil and grill.  Simple but very effective.
Shrunken Apple Heads (for decor not eating)
To avoid a mad panic on Halloween itself when boy and girl will be rushing to head out guising (none of this trick or treat nonsense) I did my spooky meal offering in advance. I'd picked up some Halloween pasta in the food hall at Formartines and decided to use it crouton style on top of pumpkin soup. I asked for recomendations on Twitter (@foodiequine) for soup recipes and went with a variation on one suggested as I didn't have everything required in the cupboard.
I can't even share the recipie I created as it was very much bucket chemistry but in general it contained the flesh from two large pumpkins, a couple of carrots and sweet potatoes, lots of shallots, garlic, fresh thyme, cumin and chicken stock.  I served it up with some witches fingers along the lines of those I made for the recent Pinnies and Peticoats Halloween meet.
Whilst I made the pumpkin soup I left the pumpkin carving to my husband.  I reckon he's made a pretty good job of it. We may well be sticking with the Scottish custom of Guising rather than Trick or Treating but have gone down the american route with the lanterns. Pumpkin is way easier to carve than neeps.

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