You want to put the book in the freezer?

This Hallow'een I'll be mostly ... making cupcakes



I'd originally intended to make gingerbread zombies but I forgot to pick up a biscuit cutter in town this evening. The cupcakes were a bit on the small side for doing spider web icing (there wouldn't have been much cupcake left after I'd cut the tops off to create a flat surface) so I decided to go for scary pumpkin faces. It was easy enough to get a good orange icing (it's not Hallow'een without a few artificial colourings and preservatives) but the scary faces were a bit tricky. I tried dusting with cocoa powder through a stencil and moulding eyes and mouths out of dark brown icing without success and was giving up in despair when the boyfriend saved my reputation as a patissier by suggesting indenting the icing. He then proceeded to look at the ends of all the sharp implements we own before suggesting that one point of my giant scissors would make good eyes and noses and the smaller point would work for scary teeth.



These two look like they're plotting something. It's a good job they're shut away tight in tupperware.

... and reading scary stories

I picked up The Turn of the Screw by Henry James in the library and started reading it on the bus coming home. Not really a great move as I then had to try very hard not to get spooked by the noise of the pheasants rustling about in the gully on my walk down the hill from the bus stop. If you fancy something slightly less hair raising then there's All Souls' by Edith Wharton (very seasonal). I read this in a collection of her short stories called Souls Belated and Other Stories* which also includes Roman Fever which has some good knitting content. I know most people like to stay in with a scary movie on Hallow'een but I much prefer curling up with a book. Plus you can always put it in the freezer if it gets too freaky.

* in fact, flicking through, there are a good few chillers in there including Kerfol, The Eyes and Afterward.