A Homemade Halloween

Has anyone else noticed how completely bonkers Vancouver is about Halloween? 

I think we can safely say that it appears to be a lot of peoples most beloved holiday. And who can blame them, the spookiness is all-inclusive, all religions are free to participate. And it demands people to be creative, to dress up as someone- or something else and play a part for a night (or week,) a un-expressed need many of us might have. 

There is no obligation to buy anything, and you're encouraged to feast and drink, or just watch scare movies.

Halloween can be homemade and be MORE awesome than store bought.  

Lets keep that going. Yes, all of us have caved to incredibly cheap and cool Halloween decorations (I have a great set of sparkly skeletons) but I want to display them alongside beautiful sticks found in the forest, a mini pumpkin from the Farmers Market and a mini witches broom from a local craftsman.  Nuts and dried poppies from the garden fit right in.

Homegrown garlic braids conjure up thoughts of Vampires and Witches, and maybe lonely cabins in the woods.

And homegrown pumpkins can stay out of the pantry for a few weeks and add to the decor of your home.  And once the holiday has passed, cook them for dinner.

The homemade aspect doesn't get more fun than with the costume. Putting ANY effort into a costume will make your Halloween more fun. Go to thrift stores, raid your closet, ask a friend what they have to spare and brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm. I made this little skeleton costume for my girl using black pants and a shirt she already had, and a white dress shirt my husband was going to turn into rags. I sewed it with another mom friend for moral support, and my daughter loves it so much its hard to get her to take it off. To see her perform her skeleton dance for everyone who comes over is reminding me of why this holiday is so great. Hedonism unleashed, for once.

But there is a dark side to this holiday that I do not enjoy, and have a really tough time getting around. Candy.....

So much sugar, so many weird preservatives, and so much garbage. You want your kid to participate in the holiday and make fantastic memories, but you don't want them eating this junk.

This is a picture of my two year old's teeth. She has 7 cavities. We brush her teeth twice a day, and floss daily. She will be put under general anesthetic to get her needed crowns and fillings. We have HUGE reservations around Halloween candy. I am going to be handing out walnuts and gum to the kids who come to my house, and maybe a few apples....

Have you ever looked into the razor blades in apples rumour? I did, a little bit, and it seems like most of the cases were hoaxes, maybe with razor blades put in by the children themselves.  How tragic that this rumour has totally squashed a beautiful, local, seasonal, and waste free alternative to all the garbage we are currently feeding our younger citizens.

And lets not forget Halloweens roots. Samhain begins on the same night, and is the Pagan New Year. The time when the last of the harvest is brought in, and winter begins. There definitely is a little bit of magic alluded to, and a remembrance of all those passed. But mostly, it is a shift, to the inside, to the darker and colder time of the year, when the stakes are a bit higher as nature cycles beyond abundance to death, and ultimately, months later, renewal.

Garlic Braids!

The garlic mostly dried, and I got another chance to practice making garlic braids. It is easier to do with soft neck varieties, than with hard necked garlic, but I like eating garlic scapes, so most of my garlic is hard neck. To braid hard neck you need to break the neck or hard stem of the garlic, all along the stem, all the way to the leaves. Then you will need a lot of patience to braid them, starting with three and feeding bulbs and their stems into the braid as you work....
It's worth it, I think, they look beautiful, I had to display them over our table.

We have very little space, so storing our year supply of garlic in this way is not only fun and functional, it also agrees with my desires to reflect the seasons in my home and, especially, kitchen.

Daffodils for Spring!

There is something about a bouquet of Daffodils that screams EASTER at me. I know we still have another week, but after buying these amazing Daffodils at the Farmers Market yesterday I've been in a mood to decorate eggs and create a brunch menu.

This is the floral shelf I just put up, to help brighten up the space above the table.

Here's a simple drink to try if you want to luxuriate over brunch next sunday (and won't be driving.)

Champagne Orange Spritzer

1 part White Bubbly wine

1 part Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

1 piece fruit to garnish

ice

Mix drink, toss over ice is glass, garnish

Enjoy!

a little tree...

I've had birds on the brain lately, so decided to decorate my little living tree with some fake birds and a popcorn string, with dried cranberries, something to gift to the birds after the season is done. 

I killed my potted tree last year by letting it dry out, so this year I am trying out this neat trick, watering the tree with ice cubes. The cubes melt slowly, allowing more time for the water to penetrate the roots, and the coolness of the ice makes the tree feel like it is outside.

It is a Dwarf Albertan Spruce tree, so is ideal for containers, but will grow to 8ft if I plant it outside.

I hope to keep it alive for next year too...

It looks so sweet on my table

Cold Outside, Warm Inside

We woke to snow on Saturday. Vancouver hasn't seen snow in two years, so it was exciting. As the winter solstice is one month away and there is still snow on the ground, I was inspired to warm the inside of my house. Spices are my favourite to warm the senses, I always cook with copious amounts of ginger and cumin in the cold months, and we just automatically started drinking chai instead of orange pekoe as soon as the temperature dropped outside. I decided to follow the trend and make a part edible, part aromatic, part illuminating centerpiece for our table.

It worked out really nicely, I had two older mandarin's that I wasn't inspired to eat and a bag full of cloves from lasts years apple cider experiment. I pierced the oranges with the cloves in pretty designs, the juice from the orange reinvigorated the cloves, causing a gentle waft of aroma. I laid them on a bed of leftover U-pick Hazelnuts, and Walnuts I bought from this weeks Farmers Market, then I put them with some very old star anise, and some new pink pepper and cardamom pods, and voila! It smells amazing.

Hopefully it will inspire us to snack on the nuts in the coming days too.

Have a Peaceful, Warm and Spicy Full Moon!