Halloween in Camden

The Neo-Classical Crypt at the Madrid Cathedral

If you haven't realised by now, I have an interest in death and death rituals. I love to visit graveyards, cemeteries and places of remembrance as they are peaceful and interesting.
I like to find out about the people or families who are buried there and to see what you can learn about them and their lives from the way in which their remaining loved ones have chosen to remember them and to inscribe their headstones etc.
I also find it interesting how different cultures, countries and religions mark death in different ways and have different views on the ways in which the remains should be honoured.

My favourite time period with regards to this really is victorian, just because death was not a taboo for them like it is in many cultures now. It was dealt with in a very public and expressive way, which leaves lots of interesting clues about the people who had passed away.
So, a neo-classical crypt was just the ticket.

Pumpkin carving with Jenni

Jenni had never made a jack'o' lantern before, apparently it's not a thing in ireland.
So, Today we made halloween pumpkins.
I love that Jenni's pumpkin looks anxious and afraid of my pumpkin, which looks evil.

Halloween baking

Sunday was a baking crafts day.

Skulls, roses, beetles and cupcakes form lily Vanilli's "A zombie ate my cupcake" cook book as obtained on Saturday.

We started off by following the instructions to make beetles. Our beetles don't look much like the ones in the book!

They look more like crabs!

This prompted Abi to suggest that we make STD cupcakes instead. Thankfully she was easily persuaded to make some sugar skulls instead!

 I had a go at making marzipan roses,and whilst this does look cool I can say with certainty that I do not have the patience to ever decorate a cake.

Then  on to the good bit: Sugar skulls!

white fondant icing, Skull cookie cutter and decorate with everything in the kitchen. Definitely a halloween winner!

We tried to make our vanilla cupcakes purple but the ended up quite a girly shade of baby pink. but we did have orange cupcake cases and bright green icing so it all balanced out to be spooky enough.

Sugar skull nails

These are nail stickers- So this is a complete nail art cheat but they look so cool.

there are available online here:

http://www.thunderegg.co.uk/index.php/gifts/fun/npw-nail-art-sugar-skull-nail-stickers.html

Or in the MoMA Shop :)

Halloween Awesomeness from Buzzfeed

Here are seven easy, super-fun Halloween treats that literally anyone can make. (Even your kid, if you have one.)

1. Dip Nutter Butters in candy melts for an insanely cute three-ingredient dessert.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Here’s what you’ll need to make the mummies.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

You can use white chocolate instead of the candy melts (but candy melts just *set* better than white chocolate). You could also use a different narrow cookie (like Milanos) instead of the Nutter Butters.

Dip the Nutter Butters in the melted candy melts, then top with two candy eyes for ~instant personality~.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Get the full how-to here.

2. Frost a brownie with an easy chocolate glaze and then decorate with white icing to make a spiderweb.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Here’s what you’ll need to make the brownie look like a spiderweb.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Bake your favorite brownie recipe or use a mix. Either way, make sure it’s in a round cake pan.

Microwave the chocolate chips and cream for about 1 minute, then whisk until you have a ~smooth and glossy glaze~. Then, spread that over the top of the brownie.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

To make the white icing, whisk the powdered sugar and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream. Scrape this into a zip-top bag and twist it to make a little bundle.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Next, cut a tiny hole in the tip of the bag. Make a spiral design starting in the middle of the brownie and going all the way to the edge. Then, drag a toothpick from the center of the spiral to the outside it look like a spiderweb. BOOM. Magic.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Get the full how-to here.

3. Frost sugar cookies with green frosting and top with candy eyeballs to make Monster Sugar Cookies.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Tint white frosting to your favorite shade of green and then spread it on the sugar cookies. Top with candy eyeballs!

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Get the full how-to here.

4. Transform a chocolate–cream cheese dip into a graveyard scene with Oreo “dirt” and Milano cookie “gravestones.”

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Here’s what you’ll need to make the dip.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

To make the dip, melt the chocolate and then mix it with the cream cheese and powdered sugar (plus a pinch of salt and some vanilla, if you want).

Lauren Zaser / BuzzFeed

the-secret-ingredient-is-a-toothpick

 

Smooth the dip in a bowl and then top it with crushed Oreos to make the dirt. Then, write on the Milanos with black frosting to make the gravestones. Sink them into the dip and scatter candy corn pumpkins and gummy worms all around.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Get the full how-to here.

5. Make a batch of orange-tinted Rice Krispie Treats and shape them into pumpkins.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Here’s what you’ll need to make the pumpkins.

Lauren Zaser / BuzzFeed

*Plus yellow and red food coloring.

Stir Rice Krispies into melted marshmallows that you’ve tinted orange with food coloring. Then, mold them into pumpkins and stick a small piece of green Twizzler in the top to make a stem.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Get the full how-to here.

6. Frost a cake with yellow, orange, and white frosting to make it look like candy corn.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Here’s what you’ll need to make the cake.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Use your favorite vanilla frosting and chocolate cake recipes or go for store-bought. The only essential is farm-fresh candy corn. JK, lol.

Tint one bowl of the frosting yellow and one orange with the food coloring, until they look like the colors of the candy corn. If you want to get it exact, use a real live candy corn to gauge the colors.

Lauren Zaser / BuzzFeed

Lauren Zaser / BuzzFeed

 

Start by frosting the bottom layer yellow. Then, put the second layer on top and frost it white, but leave the sides bare so that you can frost it orange.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Don’t worry too much about getting it perfect. The smudgy look is what you are going for.

Then, decorate the top with as many candy corns as your heart desires. We did a simple border, but you could cover the entire top or just leave it plain.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Get the full how-to here.

7. Make little no-bake cookie tombstones with melted chocolate, peanut butter, and oats.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Here’s what you’ll need to make the tombstones.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Melt the chocolate chips and then mix with the oats, cocoa powder, and peanut butter. Make tombstone shapes and then write on them with the white frosting.

Lauren Zaser / Alice Mongkongllite / BuzzFeed

Get the full how-to here.

Have a BOO-tiful Halloween!