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Posts Tagged halloween

Weekly Roundup: Happy Halloween Edition

October 30, 2009 at 7:07 am · Filed under DC ·Tagged DC, halloween, recipes I want to try, weekly roundup

Pumpkins from Homestead Farms. Happy Halloween!

Tonight: lots of baking, frosting making, and whoopie pie and cupcake assembling.

Tomorrow: Food Blogger Bakesale and Halloween parties.

Sunday: Singing, cleaning, and possibly collapsing.

For those of you who weighed in on my search for a perfect/doable Halloween costume – many thanks. I finally made my final selection, based on your ideas, laziness, and my current obsession with Mad Men. I loved Meg’s idea of being Lucille Ball, but that costume would take a little bit too much work to put together. Instead, I’m going to be a generic, tortured 1950s housewife. I have a full skirted 50’s style dress that I’ll pair with an apron and pearls, and I intend to walk around with a large bottle marked “Valium” and a martini glass. Hopefully people will get it. If I really get it together, I might hand out these (even if it might be fake, the sentiment rings true).

So now that you’ve heard about my fabulous Halloween plans, I’d love to hear yours. Any creative costume ideas you’re dying to share? Any great parties you want to brag about? Any Halloween-themed food you’re going to be making? Please share!

And now, onto the roundup. Recipes I want to try, as found on my RSS reader:

Barbecued chicken meatloaf, from Lemmonex (this looks perfect for lunches).
Fig and honey tart from Serious Eats.
Fig candy from Gradually Greener.
Applesauce cake, from Measured Memory.
Braised kale with farro and Gruyere and Parmesan from The Arugula Files (part of her experiment to actually like kale).

And in other news:

This tale of cupcake woe over at Sassy Radish, who recently made four dozen cupcakes for a friend’s wedding, is possibly my favorite thing I read all week. Anyone who’s had to make a large batch of any baked good in a home kitchen will sympathize – the batter is too big for your mixer, the frosting is impossible to pipe, etc. Haven’t we all had those days when we’ve been a tad overambitious in the kitchen?

The Black Rooster, a local dive bar, isn’t closing after all. Via Young and Hungry.

The Washington Post has a much-needed primer on making stock.

I cannot wait to find out the results of The Tipsy Baker’s onion ring challenge, which pits homemade onion rings against Burger King’s.

I love the candy corn street art, from the Mansion Mogul.

Behold this beautiful pumpkin cake from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes.

Happy Friday! And Happy (early) Halloween!

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Food Blogger Bake Sale Preview: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

October 29, 2009 at 8:51 am · Filed under DC ·Tagged cupcakes, dc food bloggers, food blogger bake sale, halloween, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

My homage to the Reece's Peanut Butter Cup.

Why should you come to the food blogger bake sale this Saturday at the 14th and U Farmer’s market? These cupcakes. Now I know they don’t look like much, but believe me – I am in love with these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes (my homage to one of my favorite Halloween candies, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup).

Now, I tend to be very critical of my own baking. Even if something comes out well, I always see room for improvement – my cakes could always be a little moister, my frostings a little less sweet or more flavorful.

But this cake recipe is everything I’ve been looking for in a cupcake – the cake is moist and fluffy, but still chocolately enough for the chocolate lover. The frosting kind of tastes like the inside of a Reese’s Pieces, which I consider a personal triumph. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I adorned them with Reese’s Pieces – well, that and Reese’s Pieces are much more decorative than peanut butter cups.

I served these to my book club last week and they got rave reviews. Even my coworkers, who are usually carbohydrate shy, loved these cupcakes.

If you want the recipe so you can make them yourself, just sit tight – I will reveal the recipe next week. In the meantime, you’ll just have to come down to 14th and U to the Farmer’s Market Saturday morning and pick up one of mine.

Besides, it’s all for a good cause to benefit Martha’s Table.

See you Saturday!

After the book club party, only one cupcake remained. Spooky.

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Weekly Roundup: Halloween Costume Query Edition

October 16, 2009 at 7:48 am · Filed under DC ·Tagged DC, dc food bloggers, halloween, recipes I want to try, weekly roundup

It may be rainy, but I'm excited about Halloween.

We seem to have skipped fall and gone straight to winter this week. But I actually kind of like this weather – the rain and cold remind me of winter where I grew up in Oregon, and I can’t help but get excited that the holidays are on the way.

So, I have a question – what should I be for Halloween? The Arugula Files has already taken Julia Child. Some of my friends want me to go as “The Modern Domestic,” which is intriguing, although I can’t figure out if going at my own blog is a cool idea, or the ultimate act of self obsessed narcissism. Also, I kind of hate going as something that no one recognizes, as you have to spend the entire evening explaining what you are. Any thoughts? Ideas?

Recipes I want to try, found from this week’s internet adventures:

Capital Spice is making David Lebovitz’ Roquefort and honey ice cream. Everyone is in the mood for ice cream these days – and it looks delicious!

Mary at The Arugula Files makes braised kale with spaghetti and chorizo, a recipe from Molly Wizenburg (aka Orangette).

Pumpkin and hazelnut doughnuts from Canelle et Vanelle.

And in non-recipe news:

Amelia at Gradually Greener taste tests local Rappahannock oysters.

Tim Carman asks on the Young and Hungry blog: when should a critic trash a place? Is it okay to trash celebrity restaurants? What about neighborhood places?

Spike Mendelsohn, of the Good Stuff Eatery (and former Top Chef contestant) has put his competitive skills to use once again. Mendelsohn’s Prez Obama Burger won the New York City Food and Wine Festival burger competition. Via Metrocurean.

Lemmonex is taking the food stamp challenge and trying to eat on $3 a day. So far, the hardest part is figuring out the financials.

Ezra Klein at the Internet Food Association posted a criticism (not his own) of Christopher Kimball’s op-ed on the death of Gourmet and the rise of food blogs (Kimball’s not a fan). A comment war ensues.

This week’s blogtoberfest theme is travel stories. The Beerspotter tells us how he learned in Prague that “dark” beers are actually “girly” beers (they’re sweeter). Huh. Well, that explains why I like a nice porter . . .

In love with the “Food Flags” over at Mansion Mogul (scroll down).

Also in love with the Halloween Cakes over on Endless Simmer. Especially the spider wedding cake.

Happy Friday!

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Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2008 at 8:37 pm · Filed under decorating, entertaining ·Tagged crafts, decorating, halloween

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween ModernDomestic readers! I hope that everyone will be out doing something to celebrate the holiday tonight. I plan on sitting outside our apartment building and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters with my coworker and Wonktheplank (later, we’ll possibly be checking out the insanity that will be Adams Morgan, mostly to see which drunk 22-year-old has the sluttiest outfit. We’ll see how we feel).

We had a couple people over last weekend to watch Rosemary’s Baby, eat cupcakes, and drink some Octoberfest brews. Wonktheplank and I had an awesome time putting together Halloween decorations for our apartment. In fact, I’m so proud of our little projects that I had to share them with you.

Wonktheplank watched about 10 minutes of Saw II last weekend on cable, and was inspired to create an elaborate torture device for my stuffed hippo out of kitchen utensils. It involved ice dripping through a strainer, which collected in a container, which rested on a see-saw, which (when it was heavy enough), flipped a trap door, which the hippo fell through and hung himself. It wasn’t even funny how much Wonktheplank enjoyed coming up with this creation, although I felt bad for my poor hippo, who never did anything to deserve such a fate.