Pig Costume

A couple of days ago, I got the idea to be "pigs in a blanket" for Halloween. It is perfectly appropriate for Jamie and me, since we love to make pigs in a blanket for people. See the page about our Pigs in a Blanket Factory if you don't know what I'm talking about.

It is also the perfect costume because I was able to make it for $1.00. That's my kind of costume! I don't like spending a lot of money on Halloween costumes - you only wear them one time, and they aren't very comfortable anyways.

I started with these beanie hats I found in the girls' section at Target.

And, they really were only $1.00!

All I needed was the beanies, pink and black construction paper, small cups, and elastic string. The tools I used were scissors, tape, a glue stick, and a single hole puncher.

 

I cut pink paper to fit around the top of the cup, and taped it down:

Then, I cut pink paper to fit around the sides of the cup, and cut the whole thing down to the size I wanted:

And, I cut black circles for the nose holes, and glued them on:

I cut out outer ears:

And inner ears:

And glued them all together:

I stapled the ears to the top of the hats:

Here is the finished hat:

To finish up the noses, I punched holes in the sides of them:

Tied on the elastic string:

And ta-da! My costumes were complete!

 

Pistachio Cake Cupcakes

Dedicated to Jo. 

So, for the past couple of weeks, I've had this cansiter in our living room:

I wanted to make some fun Halloween treats this year, because I bought cute Halloween bags last year and never used them. I wanted to use them this year! I also bought a fun Halloween cupcake kit at Marshall's. This is what the inside of my "Future Spooky Treats" canister looks like:

So, for a closer look, here is the cast of characters:

Frankenstein

Ghost

Pumpkin

Wicked Witch (we can call her Elphaba)

I wanted very badly to turn them into "spooky treats" (a.k.a. Halloween-colored cupcakes). So, I decided to make Pistachio Cake Cupcakes. Pistachio Cake is amazing! It is usually made in a bundt pan, and is a signature recipe of the Hafez family. It is also green and black, which is perfect for Halloween! Here is the recipe:

What I did was make the exact same recipe, and then put the batter into individual cupcakes instead of one large bundt cake. 

And here is how I did it:

I gathered these ingredients:

Lined 24 cupcake tins with Halloween-themed papers:

And then, combined all of the ingredients (minus the Hershey's syrup) into my standing mixer. It looked like the Wicked Witch of the West probably did when she melted!

Then I beat everything on low until it was combined.

I beat everything on medium for 2 minutes, until it was nice and smooth.

I set aside about 1/3 of the batter, and distributed the remaining 2/3 of the batter evenly into the 24 prepared cupcake tins.

I took the 1/3 of the batter I set aside, and added 3/4 c. of Hershey's syrup.

And then scooped that evenly over the green batter, using my handy-dandy scooper.

They went into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

And, then I put them on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes.

The last thing I did was spookify them...

Pretty spooky, huh?

I know I'm scared!

And, the best part is, they're delicious! The green cake is yummy and spongey, and the chocolate part is fudgy... so good!

 

Study Break!

Every Wednesday night at 10PM, our floor hosts a "Study Break". We eat snacks, hang out, and talk about important floor matters! This week was Jamie and my turn to cook, and we decided to go with a "popcorn" theme. I searched around for cool popcorn recipes, and found a really awesome recipe for popcorn balls on PW's Tasty Kitchen site. It is so simple, and they were delicious. 

All you need is a 12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips and a bag of popped popcorn!

First, pour the popcorn out into a large bowl, and discard any un-popped kernels. Next, melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler (you don't want to burn the chocolate, and if you don't have a double boiler, just use one pot inside of another pot, and fill the larger pot about halfway with water). Then, pour the melted chips over the popcorn, and stir it all together. It's kind of like making rice krispie treats! Once it is all mixed together, scoop out tennis ball sized balls of popcorn into muffin tins lined with saran wrap. I have a handy-dandy scooper that was the perfect size, but use a big spoon, or your hands! Refrigerate for about 2 hours, and then place in cupcake papers. This amount of chocolate and popcorn made about 15 popcorn balls for me, so double the recipe if you need more. Enjoy!

Beautiful Fall Foliage

The colors on the trees around Cambridge are absolutely beautiful! Here are some shots from our bike ride to Harvard Square today!

Wicked

Last weekend, Jamie and I went to see Wicked at the Boston Opera House. It was by far the best musical we've ever seen! The story is wonderful, the music is amazing, and it is all around just a unique, exciting show.

The lights at the top of the Opera House were green, in honor of Elphaba:

The stage: a map of the wonderful world of Oz:

Fall

Officially, it's been fall for about a month. It hasn't felt like fall that whole time, though. For the first week of fall, it was unusually warm. Then, it got cooler, but it still wasn't cold. Now, it is starting to get cold. 

Cold enough to turn on the heat, at least, and get our sweaters out of storage. I'm not sure when it will be cold enough to actually need to wear the sweaters, though.

Probably too soon.

This week, I saw a beautiful fall tree on the Esplanade when I was riding my bike home from the dentist. Most of the trees haven't turned yet, but I am hoping they turn before sailing season is over. I want to get up close pictures of the beautiful foliage. I want it to happen soon. This tree gave me hope that it will!