November 1, 2006 ~ Halloween Traditions
Wednesday.
Morgan and I have been thinking a lot lately about family traditions and how to give Grove opportunities for warm childhood memories. I'm not talking about anything huge. Little things.
For instance, we have a stained-glass star-shaped lantern hanging in the front window that we always light if one of our family is away from home after dark. A symbolic beacon. Light your way home. When Grove is old enough, we'll let him light it if one of us is away. And when he's older still, I'm sure we'll be lighting it for him late nights. I know all too well how little traditions like that will bring on nostalgia when he's our age.
This year we've been figuring out especially what to do on holidays. Maybe it's silly, but I think that these traditions matter. I think they're a large part of childhood security. I know that when my parents' marriage started to fall apart, despite the yelling and the anger and the hurt, what I found most unsettling was how suddenly all of the little traditions fell apart. The trek up Mt. Hood to cut a noble fir for Christmas. Drinking Dr. Pepper from glass bottles with Dad while Mom was in the fabric store (he magically used the car bumper as a bottle opener). Picking the main dish for dinner on our birthdays. Roasted pumpkin seeds at Halloween. I didn't realize how secure those little things made me feel until they were gone. I want Grove to have all sorts of traditions that make him feel secure.
So for Halloween we started up some traditions this year. Some were from my childhood. Owl cookies. Jack-o-lanterns. Homemade caramel corn. Roasted pumpkin seeds. Some were ones that we wanted to start ourselves. Apples. Candles. And when Grove's older, we'll be adding things like homemade costumes, storytelling, and harvest stew. (We were off the ball on that last one. We had defrosted chili instead...)
And we also had some fun, too. For instance, Morgan dressed Rose up as a human.
She was just thrilled, obviously.
And my mom sent a pumpkin costume that she'd made for one of my siblings when we were little, asking us to try to put it on Grove to get some Halloween pictures. Heh. That went over well...
"No, not a hat!"
"On second thought, maybe it's good to eat?"
escape of the deflated pumkin baby
We didn't have enough trick-or-treaters last night. Morgan is going to have to make his crew of college students eat our big bowl of candy (I'm sure they'll be crushed. heh.) Last year we had several little kids, this year none, so the turn out was rather disappointing. They were probably all at the new "safe event" across the way. I suspect America's "fear culture" is killing Halloween, and that's very sad.
I'll leave you with a few traditional family recipes.
Owl Cookies
Makes about 18 cookies.
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 organic free-range egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
candy-coated chocolate (M&Ms or a look-a-like)
whole cashew nuts
1. Cream together margarine, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla.
2. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together, then add to creamed mixture.
3. Melt chocolate, combine it with baking soda. Blend the chocolate mixture into 1/3 of the dough.
4. Chill dough about 1 hour in the refrigerator.
5. Roll out the piece of light dough into a 10' x 4 1/2" rectangle. (Measure)
6. Shape dark dough into a 10" x 1" log (try to prevent crumbling) and place on top of light dough. Roll light dough up around the dark dough into a cylinder shape. Place in foil. Chill for 2 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Slice in 1/8" to 1/4" slices. Place 2 slices side by side on a cookie sheet, push together, and pinch up ears. Add a cashew for each beak and a candy for each eye.
9. Bake 10 - 12 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes on pan, or cookies will break up.
Caramel Corn
Makes about 2 quarts.
2 quarts freshly popped plain popcorn.
1/2 to 1 cup nuts (we used peanuts, but almond slices and other nuts would be good too)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted organic butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup light molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Spread the popcorn in a large, well buttered roasting pan. Sprinkle the nuts on top and set the pan aside.
3. In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup, molasses, and salt. Stir over moderate heat until the mixture boils. Continue boiling gently, without stirring, until a candy-jelly thermometer in the syrup reads 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.
4. Pour the syrup over the popcorn and nuts and rapidly mix with a spatula to coat the pieces evenly.
5. Bake the caramel corn in the oven for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, then cool in the pan. (Recipe calls for 1 hour in the oven, but ours was overdone at that. I'd check it at 1/2 hour and go from there).
6. Slip the cooled candy out of the pan with a spatula and break into fairly large chunks. Store airtight for up to around a week.
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