Pumpkin and Spice

It's Halloween! It's Halloween! Gaaaaaaahhhhh!... Sorry. I had to get that out of my system. Now since one of my favorite things about Halloween is costumes (and pumpkins and candy and creepy gothy home decor and...) I thought I'd share a little glimpse of Halloween costumes of years past. I'm a big ol' dork and love couples costumes, so these are Kyle and I as famous duos... and actually is a record of our every Halloween together...

Halloween 2004
Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable.
(If you're not familiar, it's a cartoon on the Disney channel about a teenage girl and her best friend, Ron, who are average high schoolers/crime fighting super spys. It's really a very witty and clever show.)

Okay, Halloween is tomorrow, and Iamsofreakingexcited! Gah! Kyle and I are having a Halloween party, but it's not until Saturday, which is okay, because November 1st is Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which is equally creepy, and also involves candy and costumes.

I went outside Monday and it was cold! Well, not cold- cold for Florida anyway. It's beautiful and sunny, and a brisk 60F. It was the first really cool day of the season, which makes it finally feel like autumn. The cool temperatures remind me of trick or treating as a wee one back in Kansas and are really putting me in a Halloween-y mood. In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd share a review of some festive seasonal beers. Over the past month and a half, I've tried several varieties, all in the name of blogging, of course. (Oh, the sacrifices I make!)

As I mentioned, last week was my last week of school. (Yay!) If I may brag a little (and it's my blog, so I will), I finished with a 4.0, to boot!

Anyway, what that means is that I have evenings free for the next couple weeks. After a year of night school, I hardly know what to do with the free time! Since I'm totally excited about Halloween coming up, I decided to decorate some spooky cupcakes.

 I think it's pretty fair to say that learning how to cook mussels and clams has changed my life. A bold statement, I know, but it's true. Less than a year ago, I had never cooked mussels before. I'd eaten them, but cooking them seemed daunting. Then, we made them one night in class and they were so quick, so simple that I couldn't believe I'd never done it before.

While maybe not a busy weeknight meal, they are an ideal date night meal. As I have mentioned, I like my date night meals to be simple to prepare, but also a little more special than weeknight meals. Mussels have quickly become a date night favorite in our household.

My favorite basic mussel preparation is steamed in white wine and just a few other simple ingredients- minced shallots, minced garlic and red chili flakes. Once perfectly cooked, the mussels are removed and the wine, now flavored with the ocean-y mussel juices is reduced, and a couple handfuls of chopped, seeded tomatoes are added. At this point, you can take your mussels two different ways, depending on your mood. You can reduce the wine waaaay down, swirl in a pat of butter, pour it over the mussels and enjoy it with lots of crusty bread to dip in the sauce. Or, if you'd prefer a pasta reduce the wine, whisk in a slurry of cornstarch and serve the mussels and sauce over linguine noodles.