Halloween Production, You damn kids get off my lawn

We are nearing Halloween and the BIG production. Other people 'decorate' for Halloween... not us. We are compelled to put on a production worthy of Ziegfeld!  We spend July and August planning, September and October building the pieces for it. Will you ever see us in the news? No! Cuz we put it all up at 10 am  October 31st and tear it all down November 1st. Cardboard, paper mache,chicken wire and duct tape painted with fluorescent colors, is what it is made out of. During the daylight it looks cheesy and cheap (cuz it is). But add 2 fog machines, some black lights, a strobe light , strategic eerie green lighting behind the fog, loud creepy music and when the sun goes down... TAAA DAAA!  4 hours of shrieking trick or treat madness ensues.  We do it for the neighborhood kids.  Its the one night of the year when we let  the little monsters in the yard AND we are nice to them. It makes up for the rest of the year when Jimmy is on the front porch shaking a stick and yelling YOU DAMN KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN! Seriously , I don't know why the neighbors think  I should think their kids are as precious to me as they are to them. So, we make one gesture a year to keep them at bay for the other 364 days after that   And maybe because Jimmy is secretly proud of being the 'cool' 'Halloween Guy'.  Ok.... Fine..... Its FUN!

Here's soem photos of last years set-up.  Sorry, no night photos, they all turned out bad.  When Its all over and the fog machines are boxed up and put away for another year. I hope to post some picures of this years big top show.

Candied Carrots Recipe, chick day, cleaning day, storing dried herbs, Boardwalk Empire, Steve Buscemi

Sunday was a chic-a-rific day with the good typist: astrology,massage, hot tub, art, poetry,dinner and fine fine fine girl talk.  So yesterday I had to make up for all the work I didn't do on Sunday. I woke up early, cleaned the chicken coop, dug up what was left of the potatoes in the garden, cleaned the back  yard, cleaned the house,dressed and stored all the herbs I hung  3 weeks ago, made Jimmy his pudding in his little pudding cups, got all the laundry done and made fried breaded pork chops with green beans and candied carrots for dinner, then sat down with Jimmy and watched Boardwalk Empire.  Jimmy and I don't watch a lot of TV, but what we do watch we really enjoy . Shows we are currently watching are Madmen, Dexter, Supernatural (gotta have my weekly monsters) and now Boardwalk Empire. Steve Buscemi is brilliant as always and the show is very well written ,directed and produced. So, we will be following this one as long as it stays quality.

Whats that you said? Candied Carrots?

We have a gazillion carrots in  our garden right  now (thank you extended summer).  If you have an orangy abundance as well, you might like this simple recipe

Candied Carrots

4 large carrots cleaned and sliced
1 small onion diced large
3 tablespoons diced parsley
2 pats butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 or 3 tbsp turbinado (depends on how sweet you want them)

Mix vegetables and parsley in a  baking dish, Lay on the the butter pats, sprinkle the sugar over all the carrots, drizzle the olive oil over it , bake covered  at 350 degrees..  until carrots are tender (about  20 or 30 minutes)  then uncover and allow to very slightly brown (about 10 minutes). I usually bake it til the onions caramelise a little.