Toffee Apple Disaster.

So, its Half Term and I have lots of time on my hands - lucky me. I came over all Martha Stewart today and decided it would be marvelous if I wrote a magnificent post on how to make Toffee Apples. How hard can it be?? And I could take the delicious Toffee Apples to my mum's house to share with my triplet nephews.

First Job ... stick sticks in apples

My first job was to stick my sticks into my apples. An easy job, but finding the sticks proved tricky. Bewildered faces met me at every turn when I went into various supermarkets to ask for Toffee Apple sticks. You would have thought I'd asked for some sort of instrument of torture...

But in my Earth Mother mode I was not daunted. I would make my own damn sticks from Mother Nature herself. I grabbed my clippers and went outside in the rain to chop twigs of the appropriate size. Good work Mrs Secret Housewife!!

Then came the other ingredients ...

400g of sugar

150ml apple juice & 100ml maple syrup

And a teaspoon of cider vinegar ...

The next bit I was a tad nervous about. I would go as far as to say that I was scared. I had to slowly melt the sugar in a sturdy pan without burning either it or myself in a horrible sugar scalding accident. I have read that you don't stir the sugar, you just watch it and shake it lovingly occasionally. So I did.

When it had melted I added the maple syrup and apple juice and cider vinegar, letting it bubble and boil for 7 minutes...

bubbly sugary stuff

And that, dear reader, was when it all went horribly wrong.

Drop little bits into a jug of cold water, they said. And the little bits will solidify into lovely crispy toffeeness.... Well not in my house they don't.

Eventually I thought that I would dip the apples anyway. I mean, how long can a girl boil sugary stuff before she keels over from exhaustion? So I dipped the apples and put them to set on my newly bought baking paper. (Non Stick... I hope)

And before my very eyes most of the sugary sticky stuff slid majestically down the apples to form a delicious pool of ... stuff on my tray.

There may still be some sort of hope. There is a chance that in the next 5 years the toffee will set to a crispy crunchy delight, but I am not overly optimistic. Still, at least I tried and I hope that, if you attempt or have attempted Toffee Apples you are more successful than me.

Halloween Face Painting and Ghastly Lychee Eyeballs.

Not long now until Halloween... Halloween is one of those nights that wasn't too much of a big thing when I was a child. We didn't go trick or treating and I really don't remember the shops being full of orange and black merchandise as they are nowadays. As my boys grew up Halloween seemed to become more and more popular and it became a bit of a tradition to dress up, go trick or treating and make Halloween type food.

Now my boys are "big" they don't trick or treat, but we do enjoy getting our house ready for the little ones who do come around. We are lucky where we live in that there is a sort of unspoken etiquette that surrounds the whole Halloween thing. If you are happy for people to knock and collect sweets you put a pumpkin on your front step, lit with candles or tea lights. The odd freaky spider or web will help people know that you are ready. Children come round in groups with their parents and they don't usually visit past the age of about 9 or 10. Also, people don't come round past about 6.30 pm or 7.

I know some people really don't like Trick or Treating, and I can totally understand their feelings if they have had bad experiences, but we have been fortunate enough to be visited only by excited groups of little witches and skeletons who chorus Happy Halloween and politely thank us for their packet of sweets. Its rather a nice community event.

A ghoul and the monster pumpkin we grew on our allotment!

This year I have been asked to face paint my friend and her teenage daughters who are going to a Halloween party. They have given me photos of how they would like their faces painted and I am excited to paint them! I shall put photos of them on here when they are done! Last year I painted my son and his friends ...

I find painting these ghoulish ghastly images very enjoyable! You can really let your imagination go wild!

Similarly I love making Halloween food ... a real favourite is my Halloween Eyeballs ...

lychee eyeballs for Halloween

All you need is a tin of lychees ( stoned ), some blueberries and some raspberry jam. You just spoon some of the jam into each lychee and then pop a blueberry in the lychee hole. The jam spills out like blood and they generally look pretty disgusting, They taste delicious though! Sometimes we have some for trick or treaters who are brave enough to try one! Not many are!!

So ... that's what we do at Halloween. I've posted a little early this year in case anyone is looking for Halloween recipes and wants to have my Eyeball idea. I'm looking forward to doing my face painting and seeing what other people get up to. I hope you have a very Happy Halloween!

A bit late but ... Happy Halloween!!!!!

My friend was complaining about Halloween the other day. She was saying that Trick or Treating was really just legalized begging and that she hated the way children came round to her house asking for sweets. Her thoughts surprised me as, for me, Halloween has always been a fun night full of community spirit.

For me Halloween is about dressing up, painting faces, decorating the outside of our house  and welcoming the children who come around for sweets. We are fortunate around here because there seems to be an unwritten code of practise ... if you have any sort of Halloween decoration on your front step then you are up for Trick or Treaters. If your step is empty and your house dark then it means "Move on, we're not interested".

Usually we have family around for something to eat and even though my boys are a bit big to go out Trick or Treating themselves they like to have their faces painted to open the door. For me, face painting is like therapy! Before I worked in my current job I ran a little face painting company, going to children's parties, so I love to paint and am there with my sponges, paint brushes and glitter at the drop of a hat!

What I love about the children around here is that they dress up and come round with their parents. They were, without fail this year, polite and friendly. I know that if I lived in an area where people were aggressive and frightening then of course I would feel differently to the way I do ... but I can only judge from what I see...

One of my favourite things to make n Halloween is lychee eyeballs ... They are so simple to make and very tasty ... if you can get over the way they look!! You need a tin of lychees then spoon in some raspberry jam .... then pop in a blueberry and Bob's your uncle .. eyeballs!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Halloween with a Giant Pumpkin & Face Paint.

Last night we indulged in Halloween with friends and family. The boys and our neighbours made their own costumes from clothes we had around the place and I got out my face paints. We also carved the giant pumpkin we grew on our allotment!

I had forgotten just how much I love face painting! I used to do it a lot when the boys were little.

 The boys decorated the front of the house and they went trick or treating with their 2 little cousins. I stayed in to open the door to other trick or treaters. I was amazed at how many people wanted their photo taken with our pumpkin!

The whole Halloween thing is lovely round here - very community based with lots of young children coming round. I was impressed with all the pleases and thank you's. Luckily we don't get any horrible behaviour - its all friendly and polite. All good.

Oh ... and I made my Lychee Eyeballs!!