Andrew: We LOVE Halloween. It isn’t as celebrated here as it is in the United States but the stores still put out a few costumes and if you look hard enough you can buy a pumpkin. Although I considered digging out some costumes we held off this year. That doesn’t mean we didn’t celebrate at all! In addition to being ready for the three trick or treaters we had, here is how we celebrated.

Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles: I love snickerdoodles (Sarah H from work would always sneak me some extra during our holiday cookie exchange). Michelle found this recipe and I baked up a batch. It turned out great, made half of our house smell wonderful, and made enough cookies to share with some of our neighbors.

Pumpkin Pasta: Since M let me avoid the disgusting task of carving this year we had to use up some roasted pumpkin. Although it sounds odd, this pumpkin pasta recipe was easy to make and quite tasty. Perfect for a crisp fall day.

Halloween Popcorn: This has been a favorite of ours for years. Chop up your favorite candies (we used Snickers, Twix, Peanut M&M’s, and some sour ropes), make popcorn and a simple caramel and mix it all together. One thing we didn’t bring was our air popper so we have been using a pan on the stove and some coconut oil which works great.

Jack -O’-Lantern Stuffed Peppers: This was a new recipe for us, it tasted great and made me smile each time I saw my horribly carved peppers (waaay less gross then doing pumpkins). I’d definitely recommend this one if you want something simple, seasonal, and not too sweet for a holiday meal.

Horror Films/Shows: We rounded out our homage to Halloween with a bunch of scary movies and shows. Some of our favorites (and the awards we’d give them) were:

• Hubie Halloween (Funniest) – Although Sandler is really over the top with how he plays the main character this still manages to be a fun family-friendly Halloween love story. When you finish you’ll have laughed a lot and need a break from Adam Sandler. Take a break but then check out his 100% Fresh stand up show on Netflix for many more laughs.
• The Curse of Bridge Hollow (Family) – Another fun family-friendly romp. The special effects are great as Halloween decorations come to life in Bridge Hollow.
• Incantation (Scariest) – This was the scariest movie we watched this season. If you want to be creeped out pop this on and turn out the lights!
• Pulse – This 2001 Japanese film is highly acclaimed but we might not have been in the right mood for it. It is a slow creepy film but was one of our least favorites this year.
• The Block Island Sound (Most unexpected ending) – A perfectly fine suspense film with supernatural elements.
• Lust for a Vampire – This was the first older, non-renowned film we watched. From 1971 this movie didn’t have quite enough campiness or horror to make it one we’d recommend.
• Night Teeth – Modern vampire horror, similar in tone to the older Blade movies. We both enjoyed this.
• The Platform (Brainiest) – Food deprivation, horror, moralism, and gore are combined in this minimalist movie (the setting is like Cube but even simpler). If all of that sounds good then give this one a watch, it’s very interesting.
• Circus of Horrors (Best choice for a drinking game) – This 1960 film about a lunatic plastic surgeon who takes over a circus was not nearly as good as that sentence makes it sound.
• A Classic Horror Story (Goriest) – If you can get past the extreme gore this Italian film is extremely well made and kept us off guard with its twists and turns.
• The Midnight Club – we didn’t finish this whole series but have enjoyed the format which wraps up each episode with a ghost story.
• The Watcher (Stupidest) – The writing in this series is insultingly dumb, characters go out of their way to make bad decisions constantly. To top it off it ends so ambiguously we couldn’t even call it a cliffhanger. Avoid this series, and if a second season ever comes out we’ll suffer through and tell you if it redeems this bomb of an opening.

Michelle: Halloween is my favorite holiday. I like Christmas too, but costumes, horror films, and spooky treats edge out Santa and too much commercialism for me. Usually we dig out copious amounts of seasonal decor and transform our house with ghosts, witches, spiders, and Halloween cross stitches which often takes us multiple days. This year the focus was on unpacking/repacking boxes and making our new house functional so the scads of decorations stayed in their bins.

Towards the end of October when the weather cooled a bit and we started getting more rain than usual, my yearning to celebrate fall really kicked in. I started with the purchase of two small pumpkins at the supermercado. Andrew hates carving pumpkins, he will do it every now and again in order to pacify me, but would prefer never to plunge his hands into the slimy innards of a pumpkin. We don’t carve pumpkins every year, but since we weren’t decorating the house…can you hear the pleading tones in my voice?

The pumpkins sat on the kitchen counter for several days. Eventually I had a change of heart. Instead of cajoling my hubby into an activity he detests, I roasted one, made homemade pumpkin puree and whipped up some fall inspired food.

Roasting Pumpkins: I had never roasted a pumpkin before, only various squash, but it was a piece of cake. I split the pumpkin in two and removed the seeds and guts. I salted it and placed it cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I baked it for 50 minutes and let it cool.

Pumpkin Puree: Instead of purchasing canned pumpkin, I turned my roasted pumpkin into puree. After the pumpkin was cool, I scooped it from the shell, put it in a large bowl and mixed it with a hand mixer. After a couple of minutes it was smooth and ready for my fall recipes.

Pumpkin Pancakes: The first recipe I made was pumpkin pancakes. They had ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and lemon zest. The pumpkin puree kept them moist. The recipe made quite a stack, so we ate them for several days. We served them with a variety of toppings: butter, honey, preserves, cinnamon sugar, and extra pumpkin spice.

Pumpkin Soup: We made a creamy pumpkin soup. The recipe called for chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, but this is a love/hate ingredient for me. I have purchased several cans in the past, but most of the recipes I make use only a small portion of the peppers. I usually try to freeze the remainder and then they sit unused for months and eventually accumulate freezer burn. This time around I left them out and substituted a Mexican spice blend and some red chilies for an extra spicy kick. We topped the soup with some buttered bread crumbs and a dollop of crème fraîche and it was one of our favorite recipes this year.

Pumpkin Carving: I still wanted to carve my pumpkin. It wasn’t very big and I wasn’t sure I could execute a proper scary face given the space, so I opted for a nature design. I did the vines and leaves by hand and used our electric drill for the flower bits. This was a bit messy, but made quick work of drilling holes.

Eyeball Deviled Eggs: We love deviled eggs. The amount of spice, the filling, and what you garnish them with are so flexible you can customize them to your tastes and virtually any occasion. We have added bacon and cheese for barbecues, garnished them with caviar for New Year’s Eve, and I like to use a myriad of toppers like fresh dill, paprika, and even capers. We usually make them for Halloween and use black olives to make spiders or green olives to make “eyeballs”.

Tip: If you want to add a bit of seasonal pizzazz to your day without too much effort in the kitchen, pick up some pumpkin spice (you can make it yourself if you have extra energy). It is a yummy blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and sometimes allspice. I bought some at Fred Meyer in Medford. You can add it to hot chocolate, coffee, fresh fruit, pancakes, oatmeal, apple cider, and whipped cream. This year I even added a dash to vanilla and chocolate ice cream.