Halloween Movie Marathon #8 and a Moth Costume
For years I’ve wanted to be a moth for Halloween but then Martha Stewart put a moth costume on the cover of her Halloween edition so I had to wait the appropriate mourning time to make a moth costume for myself. I wanted to make something that looked somewhat authentic but didn’t involve having massive wings that would bang into things all night. I opted to make a cozy cape that when held up would look like moth wings. I consulted my dear friend Erin for advice on some stunning moths (there are so many to choose from!) and settled on the Cecropia moth. After sewing the wing cape, I painted the design onto the fabric, added some antennae and mothy dark eyes and I was ready to go.
We of course had our traditional Halloween movie marathon. A few friends even drove all the way out from Texas just to be there as the rest of the TX contingent of marathoners were all here in Los Angeles. Our place was packed to the brim and it was a great time. We had many of the treats from previous years (my favorite spinach artichoke dip, caramel corn, cashew mac & cheese and pumpkin spice cake) and also added a taco bar this year. The jackfruit carnitas was of course a hit and to top things off, we had amazing cheese sauce made specially by James and Amy of Spiral Diner.
We ended this year by taking a field trip to a real theater for our last set of movies. I think more people made it through the whole event this year than any other.
1. Earnest Scared Stupid
2. Demons
3. Ginger Snaps
4. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
5. The Descent
6. The Ring
7. 30 Days of Night
8. Sheitan
9. Dead Alive
10. Possession
11. Crimson Peak
12. Goosebumps
7th Annual Halloween Movie Marathon & S’mores bars
I may get my blogging credentials* revoked as I did not take any photos during this year’s Halloween Movie Marathon. It was year seven and we switched it up a little by starting the fest in the morning rather than at night. Since the marathon has been officially running for 24 hours for the past few years, we thought this would make it less about endurance and more about just having a fun time. We also stuck to mostly classic films and included some that were not as scary. It was a great time.
I made the usual treats: caramel popcorn, sugar cookies and spinach artichoke dip. Shawn set up a hot dog bar as always. We kicked things off with fresh bagels and cream cheese for the morning crowd. There was late night cashew mac and cheese. At one point, our friend, Scott, showed up with two seitan meats jesus pizzas from Pizzanista. There was so much food we couldn’t eat it all. I had made jackfruit carnitas for burritos but we never got to making them. There were secret donuts that we were all too stuffed to eat.
The one specialty thing I made on a whim were mini s’mores bars. Someone asked that I post the recipe so I will do my best, considering I just winged the whole thing. They were awesome though and really easy. For me, the perfect candy treat. Recipe below!
And of course, for posterity, our playlist for this event:
1. The Worst Witch
2. The Wicker Man
3. Psycho
4. Blue Velvet
5. An American Werewolf in London
6. The Lost Boys
7. Rosemary’s Baby
8. The Orphanage
9. The Quiet Ones
10. Poltergeist
11. The Exorcist
12. The Brood
13. Halloween
Mini S’mores Bars
1 bag vegan chocolate chips
about 1/2 cup Dandies mini marshmallows
5 or 6 Speculoos cookies
chocolate mold – I used a chocolate cup mold, but you could probably just spoon these onto aluminum foil and be ok
Break up the speculoos cookies into small pieces and crumbs, making sure they’re small enough to fit into your mold, but not all powder. If you can’t find the Dandies minis, you can cut up some larger mallows into pieces. They’ll get really sticky, so rolling them in powdered sugar will make them easier to handle.
Melt most of the chocolate chips in a double boiler on medium low heat (or in a bowl over a pot if you don’t have a double boiler like me), setting a small amount aside for tempering. Once the chips have melted, remove from heat and stir in the remaining chips until they are also melted.
Mix in your marshmallows and cookies. Measurements above are approximate so you might want to do this a little at a time so that there the mixture is still sort of drippy and mostly chocolate. Spoon the chocolate into your mold and let cool in the fridge for 1/2 an hour to an hour. Pop out of the mold and store in a cool place, or refrigerate. Try not to eat them all at once, even though you’ll probably want to.
*as if there were such a ridiculous thing
Halloween Movie Massacre 5
It’s that time of year again, time for our annual Halloween Movie Marathon. In fact, this was our 5th year (be sure to check out some of the past years), and we clocked in at a full 24 hours straight of horror movies.
While I usually go nuts with food, I tried to keep things simple, preparing desserts the night before, and designing the rest to be easy to make by popping in the oven. For sweets I made my favorite pumpkin spice cake and some bone shaped sugar cookies (and a sad version of the classic ghosts). Our friend Scott made a vegan King Cake which was super exciting for me.
On the savory side, I made buffalo cauliflower and giant pot of macaroni and cashew cheese. Shawn set up a hot dog station with all the trimmings. We also had French bread pizzas at some point and lots of chips and queso and popcorn and even caramel popcorn. Alas, I have no photos as photography is difficult during dark screenings.
In the morning, I made a bunch of breakfast sandwiches modeled after the Badass Breakfast Sandwich from Locali: maple dipped English muffins, vegan sausage, cheddar Daiya and spicy mayo. They were a hit, and will certainly be a staple in our home for weekends to come.
For decor we opted for lots of creepy lighting and a few key horror elements. I filled terrariums with vegetable specimens and jars of candy were labeled as disturbing fare. We had a handful of skulls and a bunch of pumpkins. One of the most exciting pieces was a drink dispenser held up by boney hands, a Halloween gift given especially for this event. We of course filled it with cold brewed coffee to keep the movie watchers awake. I also painted a few Halloween themed masks just for fun.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but watching endless horror films without sleep does very strange things to your mind. It’s no surprise we found ourselves walking down dark hallways with axes, doing zombie crawls across the floor or drilling holes in someone’s skull. No surprise at all.
Ready for what we watched? Here’s the list:
1. Carrie
2. Near Dark
3. The Descent
4. Triangle
5. Ginger Snaps
6. Poltergeist
7. The Woman in Black
8. Phenomena
9. The Loved Ones
10. Final Destination
11. The Omen
12. We Are the Night
Twin Peaks Marathon
This weekend we had part one of our massive Twin Peaks marathon. We made it through the pilot and first 19 episode over two days. Lots of Twin Peaks. It was so good. I shouldn’t need to sell you on the show though. In typical fashion, we went all out, with themed food and decor.
We wanted to give our living room the feeling of the black lodge, with the red velvet curtains and chevron floor. I have to admit I didn’t quite finish my chevron quilt, but I managed to put the top layer together which worked just fine. It wasn’t a full on replication of the room since comfort was also a factor in watching so many hours of television, but it definitely evoked the essence of the black lodge.
Let’s talk about food though. There was pie. Lots of pie.
I tried some new recipes for key lime pie made with avocado and coconut milk, banana cream pie, the cherry pie from The Joy of Vegan Baking
We had possibly the creamiest macaroni and cashew cheese ever. I’d like to eat this every day. Jenn also brought some super tasty donuts. Let’s not forget the signature David Lynch coffee. It was surprisingly good and quite strong, perfect for extended watching conditions. The pot pie was pretty good too. It was even better the second day.
On the second day we actually tried to eat salad, but the sweets won over. Hello waffle sundaes. More pie. There is nothing like sugar to get you through marathons.
We watched two days worth of Twin Peaks. We watched, we ate, we tweeted, we gossiped. People came and went, although for the majority there were eight of us. It was awesome. I can’t wait for the next installment when we finish the series and Fire Walk with Me.
Halloween Cookies
Due to popular demand, and because perhaps we are insane, we decided to have another Halloween movie marathon this weekend. To go with our new set of movies, we of course needed a new set of treats. This time I went with cookies, since I really am a cookie girl. I made the sugar cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking. This is my go-to recipe for sugar cookies because it’s pretty straight forward and makes a good amount. They’re not blow you away good, but they’re good and the royal icing is amazing so they make for good party snacks and gifts. Not to mention they’re so much fun to decorate.
For a little variety I also tried out the recipe for the chocolate crinkles, since I imagined they’d have a festive look to them. They’re soft and fudgey on the inside, sort of like little brownie bites. I cooked them on the shorter side so they would be softer, but perhaps they would have been nice crunchy. While they were well liked, I wish they were more chocolaty.
We were lucky enough to have the lovely FoodEater make us the mac and cheese I’ve been dreaming about. It was so good. I have to admit that I am not a daiya fan but it worked really well in this dish. It was cheesy but did not have the sticky weirdness that daiya can have on pizza. My favorite part was the seasoned bread crumbs on top that gave it more texture and flavor than just standard mac. The whole dish was completely eaten in less than an hour.
We learned some very important lessons during this movie marathon: If you go looking for the cat, you will probably die. If you get cats thrown at you, you will definitely die. If you try to kill cats, you may get brutally beaten by the man at the hot dog stand and eaten by rats. Most importantly, Christmas is a very scary holiday.
