Tag Archives: Halloween

“moo” said the dalmation

So it’s Halloween.  A day for lttle kids (and sometimes full grown adults!) to test their inner “ying & yang”.  All of the sweet little angels want to be devils, and the crazy little terrors want to be Cinderella.  It is a day that evokes so very many memories for me, somehow.  As a kid, myself, we had a big family and there were no “costumes” like some of the elaborate productions that you see today.  Basically, your choices were vast, and limited only by your imagination.  That is “code” for “find some stuff in the house and put it on; we’re leaving in five minutes”.  Well, let me just say that this was a system that worked just fine for me.  My mom’s suggestion for me…? A gypsy.  A what???  OK – Once I discovered that this costume involved lots of baby blue eye shadow and lipstick, my mom’s chiffon scarf tied around my head and lots and lots of her jewelry – especially that coveted gold coin bracelet/necklace… well, I was hooked.  So a gypsy it was… every single year.  Such a smart Mama…!

Fast forward about a hundred years – and our kids are now the “trick-or-treaters”.   Oh my gosh, they loved figuring out their Halloween costumes, but the rules were (kinda sorta) the same. We basically tried to create a costume out of things that we already had – we just gave it a month or so; rather than the traditional “five minute warning”.  There were lots of alterations… but the creative process was the fun of it!!  When they were just a couple of months old, they were tiny twin pumpkins – so cute; but store bought!  The next year, however, I was feeling really adventuresome.  I went to a fabric store and bought patterns and material to make their costumes from scratch.  Yep.  From scratch.   A bumblebee and a dalmation.  OK – let me explain something here.  I feel that sewing is kind of like math.  You either “get it/like it”… or you don’t.  Let’s just say that a sense of reality washed over me about “mid-project”.  I get math.  I don’t sew.  Too late.  So I finished it, and was feeling really proud of myself for pushing through.  I dressed the kids in their costumes and brought them out, beaming with pride, to show their daddy.  “Awww… How cute… Daddy’s got a little bumblebee and a baby cow”.  Did he say – a COW???  Oh my gosh, it was, so obviously, a DALMATION… “Just look at the ears”, I screamed!  “Those are dalmation ears!!!”  Suffice it to say, that this was the “one and only” year that I made a costume from scratch.  Any sewing from that point on was a straight seam or a needle and thread.  Period.

The years rolled on; so many memories.  An angel & a devil; a cowboy & an Indian Princess (still giggling about that pic… as you can see!), Santa & a bride; Batman & the Snow Princess…  Wow.  I remember the year of the pouring rain where we literally ran, carrying them, from house to house covered in rain ponchos; or the year that my daughter was sick and had to spend Halloween on the couch – so her brother took her treat bag and gathered candy for her at each and every house.

When my son got a little  older, we would have to bring Uncle Patrick over to carve a legit “scary” pumpkin, because Mom wasn’t very good at that.  My scary pumpkins were still kinda “happy/scary” – Like a creepy clown.

So fast forward another hundred years.  I’m gonna have to say that Halloween just isn’t the same when you’re kids are in college.  As much as I love the amazing adults they are today, and I really do,  there is still that inner mommy voice that silently wishes to go back in time just for a moment… to re-live the memory, to capture that feeling…  But I can’t.  So I make Halloween coffee/tea and drink it out of my Halloween mug (from when they were little) one more day.  The neighbor kids will be out in full force tonight and I love seeing all of them!!  Time permitting, our little nephew will stop by for a quick pic and a dip into our Halloween bucket.  I will, however, have to keep his mom away from my display of Halloween photos from years past.  She was over the other day, and was gazing admiringly, at all of the pics.  She is one of those people who DOES sew, so the fact that she was fixated on the pic of my “bumblebee and dalmation” was particularly impressive.  She obviously recognized the quality and workmanship that went into those costumes.  “Awww… How cute!” she exclaimed.  “A bumblebee and a cow!”.  Right.  I give.  “Mooo….”, said the dalmation.

sugar cookies

So today is “National Sugar Cookie Day”… and for me, that brings back a flood of “warm, fuzzy” memories!  With my mom, with my grandma, with my kids.  Easter, Halloween, Christmas, just because. Sugar cookies on a stick for every “half birthday party” at school.  Ahhh… It’s like a little trip down memory lane; and I am suddenly missing those “”above mentioned people” very much… Tuck these recipes away for a rainy day, and create a future memory with someone that you love.  Enjoy!

Sweetopia’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups butter (at room temperature)
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
Seeds from 1 vanilla bean (or 3 tsp vanilla)
5 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Instructions:
1.  Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low tomedium speed. (Use the paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated – forabout one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mixagain for a few seconds more.Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporatedinto the dough. If you’d like a light and fluffy cookie, that’s ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking;
not ideal if you’d like the cookie to hold its shape.
2.  Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once andmix again.
3.  Cut open your vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out. Add to mixing bowl. Alternatively, add liquid vanilla extract. Stir briefly.
4.  Sift your dry ingredients together. (Flour, baking powder and salt).
5.  Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. Place a large tea towel or two small teatowels between the edge of the bowl and the electric mixer so that the flour won’tescape. Mix on low speed for 3o seconds. Remove the tea towels and observe the doughmixing; when it clumps around the paddle attachment it’s ready. It’s also important atthis stage not to over mix the dough (the glutens in the flour develop and the dough can become tough).
6.  Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a bakingsheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
7.  Roll out the dough further if you need to, and cut out cookie shapes. Place onparchment paper-lined baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
8.  Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again.They will then hold their shape better when baked.
9.  Preheat your oven to 350°F or 176°C.
10.  Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The bakingtime will depend on the size of your cookie.
11.  Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
 A few notes about the recipe:

*Butter – The butter needs to be soft, or room temperature. I leave mine out the night before I do my baking. If you forget, you can grate the butter on the largest hole of your box grater, so that the sugar and butter will mix together better.
*Baking powder – I hardly use any baking powder in my recipe because the dough willspread and rise more during baking, thereby making the shape of the cookie less crisp.