Some Hocus Pocus!

There are certain seasonal events which make me wish I lived in the States.  They really seem to go to town with their decorations and festive attitude.  Halloween is a prime example. I love it.  Ever since my mum bought home some Halloween decorations from a trip to the US, back when I was about 12/13, Halloween has been a major deal in my house.  Every year I buy a few extra decorations, replenish the black and orange candles and cook an autumnal themed meal.  This year was no different...

I hollowed out three pumpkins and looked for inspiration from Martha Stewart.  My favourite is the one in the middle, which is Martha's "haunted graveyard" jack o'lantern.  Instead of cutting into the skin like the other two, I drew the outline of the picture and then scraped at the skin, so that when a candle is placed inside it looks like this...

I also further decorated the inside of our house, although I focus mainly on our dining room, which you'll understand why just shortly...

For the autumnal feast, I made spiced pumpkin soup with toasted garlic pumpkin seeds, using the insides of two of my pumpkins, a sausage casserole and then these ghoulish treats...

These were Devils Food Cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook iced with vanilla buttercream, which I dyed with green food colouring.  The haunting cupcake toppers were purchased from Waitrose.  We finished the night with a showing of none other than our favourite Halloween themed film Hocus Pocus, which is made all the more apt by the fact that we have our very own black cat.

I was absolutely devastated that I discovered these gorgeous looking scrubs and creams, from Haus of Gloi too late to order in time for Halloween but still intend to give them a whirl soon.  For a full review check out The Gloss Goss which is where I initially found out about them!